A Death in the Gunj and other small releases, the rest of the box office

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526 Responses to “A Death in the Gunj and other small releases, the rest of the box office”

“If you study Aamir’s films, the one he is involved in and has been responsible for, you will always see convincing and powerful supporting roles. I’ve been trying to credit Aamir for it because it cannot be just coincidence that right from Lagaan, Sarfarosh and so many other films, they all are complete scripts. Though he has been the focus of all such films, he made sure he has interesting roles played by good actors. It is not something that’s witnessed often, but it should be. Most of our stars are pretty insecure. They make sure that apart from them, the others actors are mediocre but Aamir is an exception,” said Naseeruddin Shah about Aamir Khan in an interview with indianexpress.com.

Not that I care for Hindi film awards and shows, I am intrigued with how they deal with Bahubali 2. Does it even get nominations? In reality it’s easily the biggest film in decades – surely it can’t be ignored?

England are the clear favorites to win the Champions Trophy…after failing to make it through to the top 8 in the 2015 World Cup. Two Years is all it took to change their fortunes.

One could argue even less than that — they made it to the finals of the T-20 World Cup as well, which was held in India! This time they are playing at home…things can’t be more stacked in their favor. Let’s see how they handle the pressure of expectations, which undoubtedly is an unfamiliar situation for England’s players.

Agree with Ramchandra Guha completely, I obviously don’t have any insider information regarding the Kumble-Kohli split but I’m more inclined to favor Kumble. What Kohli has done is quite unprofessional and if my more sinister instincts are to be trusted, he’s being used as a pawn by the BCCI who seem to be miffed with Kumble.

It’s a dirty game being played out and I can’t see any end to it. Removing Kumble will set a dangerous precedent as Guha points out.

Kohli has done this in the past as well — he had the ‘disciplinarian’ Ray Jennings removed from the Coach’s role at RCB. So this is part II — and in my opinion, it shouldn’t happen…not the least because it involves a man of stature like Anil Kumble.

If this does come to pass (Kumble goes out, which looks more likely) I’d expect the Indian team’s performance to go down. If this current bunch can’t handle a strict but fair coach like Kumble, they are nursing their egos to the point of stupidity.

Kohli himself has a very strong work ethic and is known to be the last one out of the nets and works out like crazy. I dont think he will really mind to be pushed.
We also need to remember Kumble has no experience of coaching. And the nice guy he is, he might think that the whole world is on his shoulders…Unfair to comment without knowing but Kohli doesnt come across to me as a guy who will want his team to be lazy or carefree. There could be more here that we dont know…

Without details I would just say many football teams turn over managers because of player power. Cricket doesn’t need it. It’s always been sensible and coaches get at least 2 years to put their ideas across. In football that’s 6 games to 30 games depending on who you are. It’s an epidemic the powers to be should fix and if Kohli is doing some underhanded things he should be dealt with properly.

Jayshah:”There is really something from Rahman musically, Johar / Bhansali picturisation but just all a combination that Hindi music rarely derives today.”

Jayshah, saw this post on the last week’s closed thread and wanted to reply incase many of them are unaware.

Music Director Keeravani of Bahubali fame has gifted melody in his music. He has done Hindi movies too and it sounded AR Rahman and even a notch higher in some melodies(Though AR Rahman is my fav and he has legendary songs). Some great songs of my personal choice of his music which can be compared to any other music director.

1) Tum Mile (Criminal) – The most iconic love melody and it was rage in that era.
2) Aa bhi jaa (Lucky Ali’s SUR) – Infact all songs are so great in this movie.
3) Jaadu hai Nasha hai (Jism) – This was iconic too and propelled Shreya Ghosal into superstardom.
4) Gali Mein Aaj Chaand Nikhla (Zakhm) – Very nice hummable song of its time.
5) Dheere Jalna ( Paheli) – It was simple and quiet effective.

2) Aa bhi jaa (Lucky Ali’s SUR) – Infact all songs are so great in this movie. – yeah Keervani@MM Kreem was amazing – i was so sad that movie did not do well – such soothing music – I guess it was the non-saleability of the lead actors which tanked a well-made film

Rahman at least in Hindi format in recent times is not close to this. I don’t even know a song from Mohenjo-Daro! But some of Bahubali music screams Rahman. Even the female singer sounds like Shreya Ghosal from that Panchi bole song!

Story: A lonely woman starts getting love letters from a long lost admirer. Little does she know that the letters are a silly teenage prank.

Review: Remember Makdee? Vishal Bhardwaj’s superbly crafted suspenseful debut, in which a ghoulish woman turns a teenager into her errand-girl? Dear Maya ditches the witchcraft element, but its first half has an unmissable similarity to the 2002 sleeper hit.

Here, Maya (Koirala) keeps to herself in her ancestral home packed with Rajputana antiques, her caged birds and her two dogs. Two schoolgirls from her neighbourhood, Anna (Imam) and Ira (Chaudhary), pity her sorry existence and decide to write love letters to her, to invoke a sense of hope in her life.

The plan works, and Maya Devi – in a literal and metaphorical scene – starts opening doors and windows to let the sunshine in. Until one of the letters arrives with a return address, and Maya ups and leaves to find her mystery man. Anna is riddled with guilt and starts looking for Maya while her friendship with Ira collapses.

The movie has a lot of honesty at its core, but loses momentum because of logistic loopholes. There are continuity errors – the first letter that Anna writes isn’t the first letter that Maya reads – and logical flaws. Why does Anna spend six years looking for Maya, without looking into that return address first? Why doesn’t she file a missing person’s report? Surely Maya’s real-estate agent has some kind of a forwarding address?

In spite of the irregularities, director Sunaina Bhatnagar keeps the feeling from ebbing. She’s good at extracting the right emotion even out of contrived situations. She super-sizes symbolism (red is the color of love; getting drenched in the rain is liberating; reclusive woman has caged birds, etc) and serves up a film that’s sporadically sweet.
Like the times when Manisha Koirala is on screen. Her talent deserves far more than a movie that is this in-your-face. Debutantes Madiha and Shreya have a good energy about them, but their stories are too plain to give them a scope to perform.

Dear Maya works like a folded love-note slyly passed around a classroom: brief and heart-warming. But also obvious, in a sense that you see it coming your way.

Hindi Medium Set To Go Past 55 Cr, Half Girlfriend Aims For 60 Cr In 3rd Week – Box Office
The Saket Chaudhary directed film has collected 46.09 crore so far and will comfortably go past the 50 crore mark in its third weekend.
By
Joginder Tuteja –
June 2, 2017

Amongst all Bollywood releases of 2017, Hindi Medium has seen the best trending so far as it has held its ground from week one to week two. The film brought in over 20 crore in its second week as well and that is better than the first week numbers of films like OK Jaanu, Begum Jaan and The Ghazi Attack, as well as the combined week one numbers of Sarkar 3 and Meri Pyaari Bindu. Now that’s pretty much the tale about how much is the Dinesh Vijan and T-Series film being loved by its target audience.

The Saket Chaudhary directed film has collected 46.09 crore so far and will comfortably go past the 50 crore mark in its third weekend. Also, by the end of its third weekend it should stand around the 55 crore mark which could well bring it into the Superhit zone.

As for Half Girlfriend, it would have to contend with an Average status as there wasn’t much of a hold in the second week with less than 10 crore coming in. While the first week collections of the film stood at 49.18 crore, the total so far is 58.50 crore*. There has been a dip in numbers though all said and done this is still better than expected as the response for the content wasn’t as forthcoming on the day of the film’s release. It was the initial that actually did the trick for the film and with 32.04 crore coming over the weekend, the job was done for the film.

It was meant to be the mother of all special effects films. Dragon was going to be producer Karan Johar and director Ayan Mukerjee’s answer to Hollywood’s big-ticket super-hero films. And its leading man Ranbir Kapoor was so excited about for many reasons. Every star worth anything wants to play a super-hero at least once in his career. And when Ranbir’s best friend decides to write and direct one, it has got to be super-special.

Or so it seemed. Until the star-director dost-pair met the internationally celebrated Israeli martial arts specialist Ido Portal in London for the action scenes in Dragon. Apparently the cost quoted for world-class special effects (which Ayan and Ranbir were aiming for) sent them staggering back to India.

“This was like back to Square One for the team. Producer Karan Johar has taken the film back to the drawing board to figure out the budget vis-à-vis international technicians. Also, the fact that the Indian super-hero films like The Flying Jatt (with Tiger Shroff) has bombed, has tilted the scales towards a no-go for Dragon,” says a source close to Karan Johar.

At the moment the official status for Dragon is “delayed”. It was meant to start in July. Then it went to the end of the year. Now…no one knows! Which is a pity for both Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt who have been paired together for the first time in Dragon.

Sanjay Dutt biopic starring Ranbir Kapoor has was scheduled to release during Christmas 2017. However, we reported a few days back that the film will be postponed to 2018. Now the official confirmation has been made.

According to the official announcement, Dutt Biopic will release on 30 March 2018. Fox Star Studios has signed a 3-film deal with Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra. One is Dutt biopic while the second is Vidhu Vinod Chopra directional. The third film is yet to be announced.

The clash between Tiger Zinda Hai and Dutt biopic has been averted. Salman Khan starrer will get a solo release during Christmas this year.

Jeevcy look at the song below and swag….this won’t be replicated anytime soon and probably not in this lifetime of yours…..pure effortless stardom !! No planning, prodding and scheming….plain let go stuff !

Friday song for this blog –

On the rest what Bahubali has done is commendable and a pride moment for everyone connected with the movie but this is also true case of luck favors the brave!

Now on future Bahubalis why don’t we just give it some time? Please rewind to year 2005-2006……quote on one of these blogs – .yrf blue eyed boy named shahrukh has been replaced by Abhishek Bachchan and there HR doing ek pal hai jeena hai…….

We are in mid 2017! Time will answer a lot of questions and settle things ….rest is all hype.

Bahubali 2 5th Week Box Office Collection: Baahubali 2 The Conclusion continues to break box office records. According to the official figures, Bahubali 2 5th week collection is 11.88 crore. The film has now recorded the highest 5th week of all time.

The record for the 5th week was earlier held by Aamir Khan starrer 3 Idiots which collected 9.83 crores while Dangal was at the second position. In this week, Bahubali 2 collection were affected by new releases Sachin A Billion Dreams and Pirates of The Caribbean 5. Also Hindi Medium was super strong in its second week.

Bahubali 2 box office collection stands at 501.28 crore after 35 days. The film has set a unique record of collecting 1 crore plus on all 35 days. Earlier Dangal held the record for 31 days. It will no longer break the weeks or daily records as the pace is slowed down. The film will finish its lifetime run in the range of 510-515 crores.https://www.bollyarena.net/bahubali-2-5th-week-box-office-collection/

A date for the release of “Baahubali 2: The Conclusion” in China is yet to be set, says producer Shobu Yarlagadda. However, he confirmed they have already “begun the process”.

“Our distributor, who had also released ‘Dangal‘, ‘PK‘ and ‘Baahubali: The Beginning‘ in China, is working towards the release at the earliest. It should take a couple of more months. No date has been firmed up yet,” Yarlagadda told IANS.

With the spectacular success of BB2 in India and Dangal in China, the subsequent releases are already feeling the heat to match up to these monumental BO feats. Questions are already being asked whether BB2 or TL can get the moolah from Chinese market. Or whether TL/TZH can match up to BB2’s hindi numbers. Such expectations can pull the movies down than under normal circumstances.

In the near future (say this year) I think 2 films may be in a position to carry the Baahubali and Dangal narrative forward – Spyder and Secret Superstar respectively. Spyder (with the Murugadoss factor and already a Hit teaser) if released in dubbed hindi can perhaps do a 100 cr in hindi market (apart from hit/superhit business down south) and be another example of conquering the north-south divide (like BB2 has done, but to a huge scale). On the other hand SS if released simultaneously in china can do 20-30 M$ (following Dangal’s run), which again will be a substantial amount for an Indian movie from China.

Similarly next year, 2.0 and Thugs can carry the narratives forward. Both will be carrying humongous expectations.

Though I too believe in ‘never say never’ but a simple realistic look outside the superstar ‘aureole’ will realize how things are at ground level at the moment. Take a look at releases in 2017.
Half Girlfriend and Hindi Medium celebrated success party and have been declared hit at a 50 cr lifetime….yes a lifetime total of one day collection of a Bahubali. Not long ago Sarkar Raaj and numerous other did not even manage to touch 10 cr “lifetime earnings”.

I agree the Indian model gets a preindication of what a blockbuster should look like with a Bahubali 2 but once again bollywood is deviating and somewhat close on the heels of a Hollywood model where biggest hits today are the superhero movies devoid of any big stars and big name and more focused on visuals.

Bahubali is no fluke. The investment is so clear. When I was feverishly looking for it’s Hindi soundtracks yesterday, I noticed the first part release of music was in 4 languages. This is a cleverly thought out project that seemed to think and dream big from origin. There is no better model for India.

Bollywood is relying on a star system, beyond that it launches stars from day 1. The model is built around inorganically creating something, feeding it and hoping stars are born.

It is correlated to the wrestling model in US today at WWE. Where God (owner = McMahon) decides in his mind that only a 6 foot plus muscle man can find fans and sell merchandise. So a factory of storytelling is created to manufacture this anointed star – he is privileged from day 1. He doesn’t earn the fans love. The biggest stars in this world organically grew from grassroots, navigating through the system, picking up points along the way and in so became household names.

Bollywood is messed up. Bahubali has proved Prabhas is now a star through a vehicle rather than the other way. How big a star is ONLY determined by good sound project choices.

The bars been low for years in Bollywood. Talents simply dry. Money is bet on the wrong people like nepotism related stars. Money should be poured into good storytellers, directors etc. The stars are just one clog (a big clog) in a gigantic process.

If these industries were shares, I’d bet only on it seems the South (as the North is copying a lot from there), Aamir, Hirani basically. They are the big hitters. A lot of others are dicey bets long term to change anything dramatically.

In any case Bahubali proves even an actor who debuted in 2002(?) can be a household name after 15 years. But it is the film mainly, the direction, storytelling that did it – he played his part but to replicate that for him he can’t cash in on films around his stardom or body or monotonous body of work.

V aptly put. Bollywood simply works on the wrong model. Instead of investing heavily in scripts, directors and technicians, it simply operates superficially by putting money on Superstar driven vehicles (instead of funding Movies with superstars – the Aamir model). Otherwise, they are trying to build stars from nepotism angles. As a result we have a current crop of ‘stars’ who struggle to deliver even a 100 cr movie.

Under such circumstances, the industry is v prone to invasion from the south (the Baahubali syndrome, which can be further aggravated by the likes of 2.0/Saaho etc). Only the Hiranis and Aamirs (who rely on their craft over other stuff) have it in them to stand up to a looming threat from the south and also increasingly from hollywood.

Anurag Kashyap and gang were the quintessential outsiders and given a chance to show their talents outside the nepotistic arena. They had Fox and Reliance and UTV backing them ….money flowed but the whole effort came to zilch and Phantom films now disintegrated into a non entity. This led the industry again back to the star system. Its people mindset which has to change to be more receptive. In Bahubali the visuals overtook everything else done before hence the star system became secondary and even the North took notice of this spectacle. So blame lies with filmmakers and not the stars.

Yes Bahubali is no fluke but also not the norm as South movies have tried to make inroads before and nothing much has happened before barring a Robot. Where I will agree is the lack of imagination, wackiness & rootedness to the proceedings / screenplay. That is one place Southern cinema has always been ahead.

Another point from budgeting point of view and I am simply speculating and not an expert in Telugu movies but have some business relations with few groups on that part of Indian coast. The way bankruptcies happen and same group pop up under a new name makes one realise southern india is sitting on whole bunch of cash / black money ready to be poured in projects whether it is shipping, mining or as simple as filmmaking – a business which gives a legitimate path to turning cash into mainstream. I don’t know backers behind Bahubali project and knowing Rajamouli’s past work (imo sharpest brain in films at the moment) would not like to discount anything but fact is a lot of investment been made here. Budgeting in Hindi cinema is no more simplistic and always been an issue in last 2 decades where there is a constant allegations about underworld funds as per media blitz.Very few are ready with their clean money to invest as ROI is pathetic in most of the cases.

It’s ridiculous and has been from the start to expect substantial things from Tubelight in China, I’ve jovially played along. Now is the time to see what kind of response it gets with a lot hanging on China theme. Aamir created a base there and one thinks a Chinese actress against the back of a an Indo-China war is just going to magically lay the foundations of an assault on China box office. Dangal’s gone into the hearts of Chinese people, it’s not a superficial success. 5% of Dangal’s business would be good for Tubelight. Salman’s hardly known there, the reliance is on a Chinese actress who is hardly in trailers. It’s more like brother love so far and poor, uninteresting stuff.

In India it’s different. Tubelight has lots of pressure with the stinging way box office media works. From Day 1 expect comparisons with Bahubali 2. There on if it struggles everything pushes onto TZH. It’s going to be uneasy for Salman fans, especially those with huge expectations.

Govt takes a call on 4 ind.foreign films.It was 2 till last year.Even this no. is max. so it can be even zero from india.Indian movies has to apply and seeing several factors,a call is made.34 is total no. and most of it is hollywood.

I love New York and I do not mean ‘love’ in any everyday way, I mean that I am in love with the city, the way you love the first person who ever touches you and never love anyone quite that way again. I love New York, even though it isn’t mine, the way something has to be that belongs to me because I belong to it.

But yesterday was the first time I regretted migrating to a place where a Trump like personality is allowed to tamper with our basic way of living and thinking. I am not too sure on the nitty gritty of the Paris climate deal but just the thought of Trump being so reckless has me completely bummed out.

To date I found Trump a harmless daffy distraction and all about resetting the American agenda but this complete disregard to climate deal makes me think he is turning dangerous to a point of no return.

Just hoping better sense prevails and we can continue to leave clean skies to our future generations –

The other thing is, we talk about how good scripts bring in repeat audiences — that might be true only to a certain extent. Scripts that bring in repeat audiences (or films that trend well) are usually feel-good films.

Dark, violent cinema or stories that are excellent but too uncomfortable to watch, still struggle to find patronage. There’s no absolute 1:1 correlation between trending and the quality of a film.

Take Aamir for example — his best film since Lagaan is undoubtedly Talaash or Dhobi Ghaat… and these are the films that trended the worst. Ghajini was dark but had enough ‘masala’ embedded into the story to trend well.

Having said that, it’s not just a Bollywood phenomenon. It’s the same across all industries. There’s no absolute correlation between trending and the quality of a film.

Quality isn’t just subjective — this basically invalidates the whole auteur theory. People have devoted their lives to understanding (and creating) cinema as an art form. By saying that cinema is just a subjective experience one is invalidating the efforts of scholars and serious students/masters of the art, who have enhanced and enriched the field for decades.

The problem, as I see it, lies when one starts relating quality to a specific parameter. It could be box office receipts or trending or whatever.

That’s a one dimensional view of things. What does trending prove? That people liked a film enough to recommend it to others. That could be due to all sorts of reasons. Jai Santoshi Maa for instance trended like mad when it first came out. The film would still trend the same in rural areas, even today.

A film like Kagaz Ke Phool flopped badly. Which film is remembered more?

The larger issue is that most people are not cine-literate. As harsh as that sounds, most people have not exposed themselves to the true definition of world cinema. Watching Hollywood movies doesn’t count for much because even in Hollywood there’s a lot of trash, nevermind Bollywood, where 90% of what comes out is unadulterated trash.

This is why Aamir stands out from the crowd — he’s the only mainstream star who cares about good content, good scripts and even his co-stars. He’s probably as secure as a bonafide superstar can get in an industry dominated by insecurity.

But that doesn’t mean only Aamir’s films are good because they happen to trend well. A film like Black Friday, just to give an example, is much more cathartic, impactful and artistic judged on its merits. Even Aamir’s relatively less heralded films like Talaash have much more substance beneath the linear narrative of its script.

The point is, these films will never trend well. They are too disconnected from the mainstream notion of what defines good cinema. A feel-good film will always triumph over a tragic ending or a factual docu-drama. At least in terms of box office numbers.

This doesn’t mean much. An Avatar, as good as it was, can’t compare to Schinder’s List or any of Kubrick’s classics — again just to give an example. Citizen Kane, a film that only recently has lost its top slot from the Sight & Sound poll of best films ever made, was a huge flop in its day. Orson Welles, the film’s director was never given his due when he was alive, but today he’s widely regarded as a genius.

To cut a long story short, trending is an indicator of a good script (perhaps), but views from top critics also matter — if not in the present, then they do manifest themselves firmly in the future.

Trending doesn’t directly suggest quality. A certain amount does. But generally a good trending film suggests acceptance at the ticket window. If one looks at all the variables for Aamir’s film since Lagaan. Majority would trend well. Majority get good reviews. There is some pattern for sure. Talaash might be a better quality film than 3 Idiots, but even here so many factors would say otherwise. Recall value, trends at box office, reviews, repeat value, quantum of records all favour 3 Idiots. A consensus is obvious that 3 Idiots got more acceptance. Does not mean it’s better. I’d probably say you’re a film buff whose standards are high and hence Talaash meets that standard.

Quality and box office have little correlation. But when you add some weight of critical apparatus from a decent spectrum + something like an IMBD rating you’ll get a stronger sense of overall quality. And here films like Lagaan, RDB, TZP, 3 Idiots, P.K, Dangal correlate in one positive direction. Mangal Pandey, Talaash don’t, they face resistance at box office and with reviews. This shows up in box office trends.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed or liked all of Aamir’s films — except perhaps for D3. My point is, Talaash (and Dhobi Ghaat) are more nuanced films in more ways than one. They are more experimental — aesthetically speaking as well as from a story-telling perspective. One could argue the same for Rang De Basanti as well but it is still more of a mainstream film.

I don’t discount the fact that films like 3 Idiots or PK have more recall value, that they have higher user ratings on IMDB or the fact that they have been accepted more — that’s a given. But these films aren’t as complex or artistic as Talaash. One can read the latter in multiple ways, enjoy its thematic depth and also marvel at its noir influences, for example. Its jazz-inspired music (Muskaan Jhoothi Hai) is also a treat. It doesn’t fit into the definition of a mainstream quality film but that’s a reflection on the Indian audience, not the film itself.

Delhi 6 is another film I love like crazy — and it’s not just a quality film, it’s a great film. If the critics in India can’t identify these films as great, there is a problem with the critics themselves. Indeed, if people like Raja Sen can become critics (Rangan is an obvious exception), there’s little that one can hope in terms of critical consensus. And that is the real tragedy in Bollywood — majority of the critics are no better than the average paying public, when it comes to judging cinema on its merits.

mostly agreed.. I’d just add this though. One of the problems is that Bollywood (unlike Hollywood) doesn’t account for the genre when deciding on release volume and so on. Even with major stars many Hollywood films get a limited screen release in a few major cities (sometimes just two! NY & LA) and are then gradually expanded. Some of it even depends on the response the film gets. In the meantime they also try to generate buzz. In Bombay on the other hand Talaash is released exactly like D3. The latter is of course a bigger release (vol etc) but there’s no essential difference otherwise. And so I’d argue that the poorer trending for Talaash is in a sense deceptive. Because this kind of film shouldn’t be pulling in 70 crores or whatever in week 1. It does so because of Aamir’s standing but the film still isn’t for everyone. Now if this film opened to a much lower number it would trend better too. I’m of course not saying that every dark film would trend well at a lower number. Just that certain films are liked enough by important cross-sections of the audience. This number (audience) isn’t enough to sustain normal trending on a high gross. Piku trended extremely well, if you substituted Aamir for Irrfan you suddenly get a dramatically bigger initial but the film still wouldn’t do 150 or something. Additionally it’s also about expectation. When you release a film on a smaller scale and do appropriate marketing you convey the signal that the film isn’t for everyone. The audience that then shows up is already more ‘open’ to a somewhat different subject or willing to accept a major star in a somewhat less signature-oriented turn. With a general release you also get a regular movie mindset. I think a number of movies over the last decade or more could have benefited with more sensible release platforms. In any case to my mind MP is different from Talaash. The former is clearly a big film that was treated like one. The audience didn’t like it very much. Talaash though should have been done differently in this sense. Dhobi Ghaat meanwhile is a total art house film. This wouldn’t have done much better anywhere in the world but then it would also have been treated accordingly.

Both are highly recommended. The first is one of the best sports themed movies I’ve ever seen. Better than Dangal although thematically they are poles apart (Dangal is more of a pro-feminist “message” film than a sports biopic).

The second is a documentary about the 2007-08 financial crisis. It’s absolutely riveting and scathing in its assessment. A must watch!

Haha you watched damned united, that’s great. I hope you watch Football, if so you could have also understood it better. Especially about Nottingham Forest. Brian Clough is a Legend. Period. But the movie is about how even Legends can fall or go horribly wrong.

What happened with Brian Clough at Leeds is very interesting. I saw the movie many years ago and it left a huge impression on my mind, especially it led me to read and know more about Clough.

Brian Clough I guess is widely regarded as the greatest ever English manager not be given the England job. Guy was quite outspoken from what I remember from childhood, it’s one of the only relegations from top flight football that was like a celebration, funeral type feeling in 1993.

On football, desperately hope Juventus win tonight. They are desperately unlucky in finals and considering how good they were in mid 90’s they deserved more back then. They have a chance to avenge 1998 final today! And they seem well equipped, easily defensively a great side but can attack effectively. Typical Italian side, under the radar but very effective.

Of course Real Madrid are chasing history to become the first team ever to successfully defend the champions league.

Actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan on Friday opposed the 28% GST rate on the industry, pointing out that it will ruin regional cinema if not revised. In a statement from the Southern Film Chamber of Commerce, it read that the entire regional film industry is aghast at the rate of 27% GST imposed upon Indian film industry. It is extremely painful to note that our industry has been tagged along with sinful industries like gambling, horse racing. This kind of high rates of tax will kill regional cinema.

While talking to the press on Friday, Haasan said, “Regional cinema is the strength of Indian cinema. This diversity is the reason why this country is strong. That diversity has to be maintained. You cannot pressurize that. Regional cinema has been the pride of India.” He further appealed that the tax rate be brought down to 12-15% from 28%, while welcoming One India, One Tax regime which was recently announced. He added that he is a prompt tax payer but at this rate he will be forced to quit. “We should remember that this is not East India Company,” Haasan said.
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Haasan further added cinema is a creative art in making a movie by employing director, artistes, music director, art director and several other crafts. “The government of India has placed 18% GST on the creative art, when such being the case, we do not understand why we have been placed at the highest slab of 28%, although we feel we are very much within the creative work of 18%.”

How do you fancy the idea of a fist-to-fist between Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar at the climax of Robot 2 a.k.a
2.0?

The film’s director Shankar and his team of action directors from the West are looking at a never-before on-screen combat between the two superstars.

However, an acutely practical problem awaits the tall climactic plans. According to sources close to the climax, Kumar and Rajinikanth belong to two different schools of action.

“Akshay wants the big climax fight to be raw real and credible, whereas, Rajini Sir with his old school belief in special-effects for the kicks and somersaults wants the fight to be more stylized and ….well, ‘Rajinikanth’ in spirit. Accommodating these two separate schools of stunt performances in the same climax is a problematic situation,” says the well-informed source.

Apparently, the action team wants to use a body double for Rajinikanth with Akshay Kumar.

“But using a body-double is not a situation acceptable to Rajini Sir,” says a Robot team member.

Baahubali 2 All Versions Moving Towards 1700 Worldwide
It currently stands with a global total of 1652 crores at the box office.
By
Koimoi.com Team –
June 3, 2017

S.S. Rajamouli’s magnum opus Baahubali 2: The Conclusion has finally crossed the 1600 crore mark at the box office in all versions.

So far, Baahubali 2 has grossed 1345 crores (nett. 1043 crores) in India including all versions and around 307 crores at the overseas box office. It currently stands with a global total of 1600 crores.

Baahubali 2 is all set to hit the screens in China in July. Speaking about the release, Kishore Kedari of Arka Media Works said, “It will be the next Indian film after Dangal to release in China, and we are excited about its possibilities. Dangal has done record business in China and its exemplary response has upped the quotient for Indian films.”

It must be noted that Baahubali: The Beginning released in over 6000 screens in China when it released in 2015. Reports suggest that the makers are planning for a very grand release of the film in China this time. Baahubali 2 will have a new International version, which will be edited by a noted Hollywood editor.

Meanwhile, superstar Aamir Khan’s Dangal received overwhelming response and it’s the first Indian film to enter the Rs 1000-crore mark in China. Dangal has officially beaten the records of Baahubali 2 to emerge as the highest grossing Indian film, raking in more than Rs 1700 crore worldwide.

Recent comments from Rajamouli himself on how Telegu industry frequently over reports box office collections of movies with leading stars, has raised some doubts about producer totals of Baahubali 2. The 1650 cr WW figure may be a fudged one.

I remember when Magadheera released, there was a lot of talk about it doing 60 cr nett in India and setting new standards for Telegu industry. Now from Rajamouli’s own admission the movie actually did 80% of reported business.

On the other hand, all tracking sources had given same numbers during Dangal’s phaseI BO run. And the reporting in Taiwan and China has been transparent. There is no doubt that Dangal has indeed done 1800 cr WW gross.

Ofcourse it’s a fudged no.Even 1600cr has not been crossed till now,while dangal wld cross 1800cr today.More than 200cr ahead ATM.I am expecting dangal to be ahead by min.350cr after china run.BB2 wld do max.30cr in china and with japan,korea rls line up for dangal,final diff cld well be in range of 500cr.

Dangal has already crossed 1800 cr depending on what Indian gross one is considering for Dangal. AKP reported 387 cr nett and 542 cr gross.

On the other hand BOI has back-calculated 516 cr gross from 387 cr nett using an approximate 0.75 conversion factor (they do it for all movies). However, it is an approximated gross calculation as 0.75 conversion do not take into account the variations in different regions with different entertainment tax structure. Such calculations will make more sense after GST comes into affect.

Wonderwoman is not looking as big as POTC in china,opening is much lesser.You wldn’t believe dangal is running today on 30k shows and WW 82k shows.Guess what Attendence rate of dangal (14.7%ATM)is higher than WW(12.3% ATM).POTC effect was only on 4th friday only.WW wldn’t effect much.China can easily 2-3 good collecting movies.Moment we are tsling Dangal has just crossed 2M$ today in china.

Bahubali 2 – The Conclusion (Hindi) continues to hold strongly in its sixth week with collections of 75 lakh nett apprx but it is the first time that it is has gone below the 1 crore nett mark for the day. This has happened after 35 days. It is also the first time that it has not created a daily record as its sixth Friday business is below the 1 crore nett that Gadar got on its sixth Friday. Still its sixth Friday is better than other release barring Gadar which includes likes of 3 idiots, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, PK, Dangal and even better than long runners of the past like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Rajas Hindustani, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

One aspect of BB2 trending has been ignored so far. It has managed to double its week one total of 247 cr and is definitely a truly liked and accepted movie. But in week one the ticket prices were sky high (I paid double the amount for a normal blockbuster when i watched it in the opening weekend). Inspite of such hiked rates, the movie doubling its week one initial means a lot more footfalls after week one, than in week one. I wonder how many movies actually manage that, even within the well trended ones.

Tommorow Dangal wld break Transformer’s record of doing min. 10MYuans(1.45M$) daily for 30 days.Transformers did this for exactly 30 days while dangal has done it for 30 days today (10MY crossed today).Tom. dangal wld do it for 31 days in a row.RECORD at China BO.

‘but while biopics are an interesting concept, they don’t do earth-shattering business at the box-office.’

Who writes this jibberish! Dangal anyone? Heck given the budgets Dhoni and Tendulkar have done well.

I do agree this is a huge price, unexpected too and attached unnecessary pressure to the project if true. Hirani’s films are hardly visual spectacles and there is no A list star here. Something is odd here for sure.

…I think this would be a litmus test for Hirani more than RK. Hirani’s name can bring initials for sure – but the trending? lot will ride on RK and the product…….otherwise all the directors after working with Aamir have failed at the BO with their subsequent products without aamir……hirani has Munnabhai goodwill as a director so he will bring initials….

There were 10 new Hindi releases this week but none of them could any business. Dobara – See Your Evil was best of the lot with around 25 lakhs nett while Hanuman Da Damdaar had the best trend on the day which could lead to the best weekend. This meant that Hindi Medium and Sachin – A Billion Dreams continued to dominate the box office as far as Hindi films are concerned. Hindi Medium grossed 1.50 crore nett on its third Friday which is the same as first day of Baywatch while Sachin – A Billion Dreams was around 1.25 crore nett.

Hindi Medium is a HIT and is holding up very well at the box office with collections of around 42.50 crore nett after fifteen days. The way the film is going its going to be a photo finish in terms of lifetime business between it and the bigger film Half Girlfriend which was released on the same day as 55 crore nett is a possibilty for Hindi Medium.

Sachin – A Billion Dreams has dropped around 80% in the second week but for a film which is more or else a documentary to do around 45 crore nett lifetime business in Hindi and over 50 crore nett in all languages is an achievement. The film has grossed around 36.50 crore nett in 8 days in Hindi.

Back in 2016, 4 four films were announced to release during Christmas 2017. It was Shahrukh Khan was first announced that his Dwarf project with Aanand L Rai will release during Christmas. It was followed by Rajkumar Hirani and Sanjay Leela Bhansali who announced their films Dutt Biopic and Padmavati respectively.

But as soon as Salman Khan’s Tiger Zinda Hai was announced to release during Christmas, everyone backed out. The team of Dutt Biopic tried their best to release it on the scheduled date. The makers released the terrific looks of Ranbir from the film and held a press conference where they claimed that the film is even better than 3 Idiots which was probably a promotional strategy.

But as soon as Salman Khan’s Tiger Zinda Hai was announced to release during Christmas, everyone backed out. The team of Dutt Biopic tried their best to release it on the scheduled date. The makers released the terrific looks of Ranbir from the film and held a press conference where they claimed that the film is even better than 3 Idiots which was probably a promotional strategy.

However, none of the leading distribution house was willing to buy the film at a good price due to this clash. Fox Star Studios offered VVC a three films deal including Dutt at a handsome price, but their only condition was that it should not clash with Tiger Zinda Hai. As a last try, Rajkumar Hirani and Ranbir Kapoor visited the Aditya Chopra a few days back to discuss the clash. But YRF made it clear that Tiger Zinda Hai will release during Christmas 2017 and they have no plans to delay the film’s release. Thus Dutt team has no choice except to postpone the film to March 2018.

Finally DC hits the mark. Gal Gadot is incredible, and its is a very good interesting origin story. It appears they needed a woman director to finally get the DC universe going, with zack snyder on the verge of destroying it.

loved the special effects and inspite of knowing what will happen the movie entertains and hits the right spot of drama, comedy and serious finale.

Seven films, and none of them managing any real audiences in theaters – Now does that sound shocking? Well no, not at all, since this is what one expects when a heap of films arrive in theaters, don’t really manage adequate count of shows, suffer from being lost in the crowd and then get ignored even by majority of reviewers. After all, a critic could well have an appetite to watch two or may be three films on the day of release. However, when eight films arrive together (not to mention a couple of Hollywood flicks too), one is bound to just pick and choose a couple or perhaps ignore it all.

This is what happened in case of new arrivals of this Friday – Dobaara – See Your Evil, Dear Maya, Hanuman Da Damdaar, A Death in the Gunj, Sweetiee Weds NRI, Mirror Game – Ab Khel Shuru, Flat 211. Most of these films were not even reviewed, leave aside being appreciated or rejected. Now when a critic takes this decision, what can one expect from the ‘aam junta’ which is not even aware about the existence of most of the aforementioned films?

One expected Dobaara – See Your Evil to bring in some sort of numbers due to its horror appeal but then that didn’t happen either. Dear Maya had the presence of Manisha Koirala and she did her bit too through media presence. However, the film didn’t have many shows in the evening and night which means if at all there was any appreciation, there was no way that audience could catch it on Day One. Hanuman Da Damdaar boasted of Salman Khan’s voice in the title role but that didn’t quite bring in his fans in heap. A Death in the Gunj had critical appreciation since its various festival screening but there was no awareness.

All in all, a very dull day for new releases in Bollywood and all that these films could be looking for is some sort of miracle today. Reason being that tomorrow is match-of-the-year with India taking on Pakistan in an ODI. With the match starting in the afternoon, practically the entire day would be further gone. A sad state indeed!

Dangal has completed 1 month in China BO with 165.45 M$ ( http://english.entgroup.cn/boxoffice/cn/daily/ ). What an eventful run it has been! It coincidentally has collected 200+ M$ total in overseas on the same day – a historic moment for Bollywood and Indian overseas business.

Dangal 5th Saturday Box Office Collection in China: Dangal has shown good growth on the 30th day in China as the film has collected $3.90 million (25.40 cr INR).

The film has set new benchmarks even at the Chinese box office as it has set some all time daily records. It is running at a historic pace even with the release of Wonder Woman and Pirates of The Caribbean 5. The total collection of Dangal is now $164 million and it has entered into the top 25 highest grossers of all time in China.

Dangal is undoubtedly the biggest Indian blockbuster ever in overseas. In future, it will be very tough to beat Dangal worldwide gross even for Aamir Khan.

True. 3 UCL in 4 years, thought not the greatest of all time, but to do it, when messi is playing all them more respectable. Congrats to Madrid.

At one stage I had thought Ronaldo would never be able match Messi forget eclipse, but his last few years that to after reaching 31 years of age, have been commendable.

Football365 says following in their famous 16 conclusions:

“* “I am annoyed because it feels like you are persecuting me. You say, ‘Cristiano has dropped his level and that is why Madrid [are suffering]’. No, if everyone was at my level, maybe we would be top.”

Speaking in February 2016, this was a rare moment when Cristiano Ronaldo allowed the mask to slip. His on-pitch tantrums have become the norm, but the Portuguese so very rarely allows his frustrations to show outside of a game.

The Real Madrid forward has been haunted by criticism throughout his career, but with the club struggling 16 months ago, he was the lightning rod. His performances were butchered, his demeanour questioned. Having just turned 31, this was the start of the inevitable downward spiral that eventually consumes any and every athlete.

What each of us failed to recognise is that Ronaldo is no ordinary athlete. He is not human but cyborg, a near-perfect footballing machine that the world revels in finding the slightest flaw in. He is a sporting deity who always has the last laugh.

By the end of that season, Ronaldo had helped Real win the Champions League. A couple of months later, he guided Portugal to their first ever major trophy, the European Championship. This, scoring two goals in the Champions League final, and assisting Los Blancos as they paired La Liga glory with Europe’s premier title, caps perhaps the greatest individual footballing year ever seen. Keep booing him. Keep doubting him. Keep finding those slightest of slight flaws. Ronaldo will keep scoring. Ronaldo will keep winning.”

A lot of this is Zidane’s contribution. He has managed Ronaldo to a degree, he’s playing him only in big games. He scored in QF, SF and final. Zidane is a Real Madrid legend, previous managers just couldn’t check Ronaldo’s ego. When you have a former great manage you in your latter years it helps. He’s probably said look you are great, I can make you greater by playing in decisive moments.

Basically Ronaldo is now very much Messi’s equal. It’s simply the latters pleasing on the eye the decisive factor. He just scores greater goals, but the former is now scoring in the biggest matches. That conversation is tilting in his favour and as Barcelona are in transition now one thinks Messi will need to step it up now or Ronaldo will have medals (CL) and Ballon D’or to match or exceed him.

Ronaldo will win a 5th Ballon D’or and 4 CL’s compared to Messi’s 5 and 4. Throw in a pivotal role in Euro 2016 barring injury in final he is now in a unique position to be called the greater. It’s very similar to Nadal managing 18 slams and Federer the same. The latter is more pleasing on the eye, more complete so probably the better.

Ronaldo hasn’t had Xavi, Iniesta etc too. Madrid though spend big. The European Cup is genuinely there main target and what they are about historically. They are the only club who would sack a manager if he doesn’t win it but wins the league! The remit is to win CL.

Zidane’s​ legend has just gone up now! Sensational!

I do not like them at all – ideologically their principles of buying marquee player each year is nauseating. But it works. Born winners. Athletico should have won in 2014 except for Ramos last minute equaliser and last year AM were stronger too. But RM just have it in their genes to win.

Messi is still in a league of his own though. The only guy who’s routinely put in the Pele/Maradona camp. Even otherwise on the pure stats Messi’s are nothing short of miraculous. Now winning the big ones is of course important and here Messi has clearly had problems (though in WC terms Ronaldo too doesn’t really have a better record.. but Messi has lost two Copa opportunities as well). And the media plays these things up quite a bit. The rivalry narrative has in any case been ‘on’ for very long. Again not a knock on Ronaldo but I doubt anyone would pick him over Messi as a greater footballer in terms of his skill set. Much as most people wouldn’t pick Nadal over Federer (other than on clay of course). The best example though might be the Sachin one. In many ways Messi seems to me that sort of figure. If you recall all those older Indian debates where Sehwag (for example) was supposed to be a greater ‘winner’ and so on. Again what Ronaldo has been doing lately, specially in these big games has been pretty remarkable. But I’d say there’s still a huge gap between Messi and him. Not just aesthetically but even otherwise. If you recall some of those very detailed stats that came out during the last WC. They were mind-boggling. Bradmanesque. Maradona never had these stats though of course he had the big WC win (note though how Maradona too confirms the same point.. many people have a WC win and they are central to that win but Maradona was always recognized as being Pele-like). Ronaldo is a fine fine player, no doubt about it but one might just be dealing with a great player at one end and the Bradman-type at the other. With the caveat that even the Bradmanesque talent is not always necessarily the biggest match-winner (though of course things are complicated even here.. ).

Agree a lot and personally not even a choice. I’d watch Messi anyday and popular opinion would be same. Ronaldo is pushing a case here. And Messi needs to step it up again. It’s as much about the team situations. Barcelona in general have lost a bit of identity under Enrique. The Guardiola style of football needs a reboot of sorts. The Le Masia academy is not producing what it use to and Real Madrid are. This gap can widen again next year as Barcelona have a new boss and will rebuild now.

Messi has next year’s WC to potentially deliver that’s if Argentina get there!

The material sounds astounding and simply deserving of bringing Bachchan and Aamir together! Nevertheless, YRF and co will find a way not to make this a great film. I have doubts on just a good film. Hopefully this Victor dude delivers as quite clearly both YRF and Aamir have confidence in him.

Agree that substance in the material is not a problem here. I am slightly optimistic that this will be a better film that a Dhoom one, but that is not much i the first place.

I think Aamir has been working extensively with the scripting and designing of this project for the last 8-9 months, since he was brought in. And probably he will ensure the execution from here onwards, is at par with the conceptualization. In short, he may be working as the unofficial creative director along side Victor (otherwise I cant see how Adi has agreed to 70% profit sharing with Aamir). If that is the case, I am confident of at least a good movie.

Aamir has a habit of occasionally doing big budget productions after a couple of small/medium budget films (D3 after Dhobi Ghat & Talaash; TOH after Dangal and Secret Superstar). So hopefully when he picks up such a project in future, it will be with Rajamouli or Shankar. 🙂

The biographical sports drama raked in approximately 25.25 crores ($3.92 million) yesterday and now stands with the grand total of 1067.34 crores.($165.53 million) at the Chinese box office. Dangal has also collected 36.50 crores in Taiwan. The film now stands with the global collections of 1848 crores.

But the open question now is whether it can reach 200 M$ from China for a photo finish. But adding 35 M$ in its second month may be tough as there will be competition from Wonder Woman, Mummy and Transformers.

“…As a writer, whose newest book is based on the rise of Indian soft power by way of Bollywood in China, I found myself at the right place at the right time. I argue in my book that the popularity of Bollywood can go a long way in leveraging soft power for India…”

“.. there is something incredible about China’s changing perception of India, and it’s happening because of Bollywood. Our politicians should pay heed to how much goodwill a country can gain by less grandstanding and more soft power…”

Great stuff, but read the comments at the end of hte article. Cant understand why diehard BB2 fans have been going on this “Dangal China BO #s are fake!” rant. Really disappointing behaviour by self-annointed desh-bhakts. These fools think that only a fictional epic ought to hold the WW BO record. Nobody is taking away BB2’s well-respected success. They just do not understand the concept of soft power as has been expressed in the views of this article above.

“Acting wise, I don’t think there’s anyone bigger than Dilip Kumar. After that, Mr Bachchan has had a great run. Till today, he is doing Kaun Banega Crorepati. He is still working, you put on the TV and he is everywhere. He is almost like the face of the country. Stardom wise, if you think we guys have the popularity and all, for six-seven years there was Rajesh Khanna. Nobody’s bigger than him. Second was Kumar Gaurav because I have seen both of them. I was 9-10, when I saw Rajesh Khanna’s stardom and when I was 16-17, I saw Kumar Gaurav’s. It was unbelievable. So, when they talk about us, I tell them I have seen stardom and ours is not even 10 per cent.”

He says so many things and forgets too. He said akki is the biggest star! And now he is not mentioning anything about the biggest star! I think the interview questions are given already and did somebody chose the questions too!

Kumar Gaurav ?? Lollll is Salman drunk again ?? .. and seriously Rajesh Khanna stardom felt very overhyped to me , He was definitely first hysteria never seen before, but very short lived … not more than 5 years. And then Bachchan hysteria was definitely bigger and way too longer. Bahchcan was first mass Hysteria … never before, never after.

I am obviously a sucker for Tendulkar and Dravid and Steve Waugh but in terms of pure ‘physicality’ and ‘lustiness’ — and I mean in watching a batsman just enjoy playing the game and whack effortlessly — no other batsman from the Indian side comes close to Yuvraj in modern times. It’s just pure joy to watch him swivel his bat. He makes batting look extremely, extremely glamorous.

@ Saket completely agree on short-pitched stuff being Yuvraj’s Achilles’ heel; and who better than Riaz to make him suffer for that: Just as Warne walked away with nightmares of Tendulkar from the Bangalore test match in ’98; I am quite positive Watson is still undergoing therapy from Wahab’s short-pitched 5 over offensive in the World cup…

BR Shetty told reporters the revenue from the first film was expected to be around $1 billion.
ABU DHABI: UAE-based Indian billionaire BR Shetty, who has interests in healthcare and finance, said on Sunday that he expects to make $1 billion in revenue from his first foray into the film-making business – an adaptation of the epic, the Mahabharata.

Mr Shetty, joint non-executive chairman of London-listed NMC Health, announced in April he was investing $150 million in the film franchise, which is set to be India’s most expensive film.

Mr Shetty, who is producer of the project and VA Shrikumar Menon, the director, on Sunday spoke with reporters about their plans, which will involve two films of just under six hours in total. The films will have three different language versions – Malayalam, English and Hindi.

Mr Shetty told reporters the revenue from the first film was expected to be around $1 billion.

The film will be made partly in Abu Dhabi and other locations, including potentially Sri Lanka and India, which are still to be confirmed.

More details about the cast and crew will be disclosed within 100 days, Menon said. Filming will start in May 2018, with the first film’s release slated for 2020 and the second film around 100 days later, he said.

Shutu’s “fault” isn’t that he doesn’t speak English (he knows the difference between “drive” and “ride”; he reads Gulliver’s Travels; he wants to go to London for higher studies) or that he comes from a poorer branch of the family tree. It’s that he’s… invisible. No one seems to really see him. He’s just not cool enough. Early on, when his cousin Nandu (Gulshan Devaiah) introduces him as Shutu, he hesitantly utters his name, Shyamlal. But no one takes note. It’s Shutu, Shutu, Shutu. What Massey does looks less like acting than alchemy – he creates a character who’s a bit of a loner, an introvert, who’s shy, someone who feels “lesser” than people who are casually, effortlessly cool, someone who wants to belong to this club but knows he never can. It’s painful to watch him.
Excerpts from BR review.

“The trade is now estimating anything between a $180-200 million box office collection for Dangal in China after it was granted a month-long extension on Thursday, 1 June 2017. Will its storied momentum sustain long enough to cross that benchmark?”

Dangal Inches Closer To 1100 Cr In China; Worldwide Total Now Stands At 1870 Cr
Dangal has also collected and 36.50 crores in the Taiwanese market!
By
Koimoi.com Team –
June 5, 2017

Aamir Khan’s Dangal continues to achieve milestone after milestone at the Chinese box office. The film has shattered many records and has even made an impact on the business of new releases. The biographical sports drama raked in around $ 3.50 Million (22.60 crores) and now stands with a grand total of $ 169 Million (1089 crores).

Dangal has also collected and 36.50 crores in the Taiwanese market, which takes its overseas collections to 1327.50 crores.
Dangal Inches Closer To 1100 Crores At The Chinese Box Office
Dangal Inches Closer To 1100 Crores At The Chinese Box Office

The film currently stands with a global collection of 1869.84 crores and is now heading towards the 1900 crore mark.

According to industry sources, the film’s makers have received a letter from Modi in which he said he awaits the release of the film which will be a matter of pride for the entire nation.

The team of Mahabharatham, acknowledging Modi’s support, has sought permission to meet him and they have been granted. It will be interesting to see what will president KP Sasikala of the pro-Hindu group has to say now. Recently, she had said, “Although we are happy that a big budget film is coming from Kerala named Mahabharatham, we strongly feel a film which is close to the story of real Mahabharatham written by Vyasan should only carry its name. No other movie can be named Mahabharatham. If the movie is based on Randamoozham, let the name of the film also be named same. Veda Vyasan also has his rights.”

What’s interesting is that the film features a character called Beemji (short for Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar), named after the Twitter handle of its director Ranjith, a self-confessed fan of Ambedkar. Mammootty is rumoured to be playing this character and it has to be seen whether he is indeed part of the project.

With the renewal last week of its China distribution license for an additional 30 days, the family sports drama Dangal continues to roll up its record-shattering box office total in the Middle Kingdom, and is now within striking distance of a worldwide gross of INR 2000 Crore Rupees (US $300 million).

As of this writing, Dangal has scored over 1850 Crore rupees ($285 million) in its global release. Nearly 58 percent of that total has come from the People’s Republic of China, where audiences have found a special kinship with the devoted father, played by Aamir Khan, who devotes himself to helping his daughters achieve unexpected success in the male-dominated world of championship wrestling.

The Hindi language film has clearly tapped an emotional chord with Chinese viewers. As one young Chinese student told The Indian Express:

“It’s my story. It’s the story of every Chinese girl who is told there are things she cannot do because she is a woman. Growing up, my math teacher told me that I should try something else because math is for men and not women. When I saw the movie, it spoke to me. I understood how those sisters felt when they were held back because men think wrestling is for boys only. Who are they to make these rules?”

Now 5 weeks into its China run, Dangal held the 3rd place spot at the box office this past weekend with a total of $7.2 million for the Friday-Sunday frame. It has broken the Chinese record for most consecutive days with a gross of RMB 10 million ($1.15 million), surpassing the record of 30 straight days that had been established by Transformers 4.

Taiwan’s audiences have also embraced Dangal, which has now amassed an impressive total of 38 Crore rupees ($5.9 million) in the island territory. That total is by far Taiwan’s highest ever for an Indian film.

Meanwhile, the extraordinary India run of Baahubali: The Conclusion, is finally slowing down. On Monday the daily Hindi language collections for the film fell below 1 Crore for the first time in the film’s 6-week run. Although it has collected a total of more than 1,300 Crore rupees ($202 million) in the Indian market, it has fallen far behind Dangal in its worldwide tally. Whether it can amass the more than 350 Crore it will probably need in China to catch up with Dangal’s global come will depend entirely on Chinese moviegoers’ willingness to show up for an entirely different type of Indian film than they’ve seen before.

“Aamir Khan’s Bollywood sensation Dangal added $9.17 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its total to $170 million — an unprecedented overseas number for an Indian film. Beijing regulators recently gave the movie a rare 30-day screening extension.”

DNA carries blank page in place of coverage on India’s Champions Trophy win over Pakistan
An editorial said there are still some among us who are ‘too weak to resist the temptation’ of an India-Pakistan match.
DNA carries blank page in place of coverage on India’s Champions Trophy win over Pakistan

A day after announcing that Zee media will not cover the India-Pakistan match in the Champions Trophy “in support of armed forces,” the media group’s English newspaper DNA carried a blank page in lieu of coverage of India’s 124-run victory over Pakistan on Sunday. In an editorial that was also published on the front page, the newspaper also said there are still some who are “too weak to resist the temptation” of an India-Pakistan match, Zee media would stand with the soldiers.

Bahubali 2 – The Conclusion (Hindi) continues to hold strongly in its sixth week with collections of 75 lakh nett apprx but it is the first time that it is has gone below the 1 crore nett mark for the day. This has happened after 35 days. It is also the first time that it has not created a daily record as its sixth Friday business is below the 1 crore nett that Gadar got on its sixth Friday. Still its sixth Friday is better than other release barring Gadar which includes likes of 3 idiots, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, PK, Dangal and even better than long runners of the past like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Rajas Hindustani, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

The film stands at around 501 crore nett and it looks now the film will end its run at around 508 crore nett and if it reaches there it will mean a GROSS of 700 crore nett plus in India alone.. The figures of Bahubali 2 – The Conclusion (Hindi) till date are as follows.

Dangal in China has already held its own against Hollywood biggies like GOTG2, POC and Wonder Woman. I think it will have adequate legs from here onward, despite competition from other biggies like Mummy, Cars 3 and Transformers. Lets see how far it goes.

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s upcoming movie ‘Tubelight’ is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated movies of 2017. Helmed by ace filmmaker Kabir Khan, ‘Tubelight’ is set in the backdrop of the 1962 Sino-Indian War and will hit the theatres on 23rd June.

However, with movies likes SS Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali 2’ and Aamir Khan’s ‘Dangal’ doing exceedingly well business beyond the boundaries of the Indian soil, Bollywood has discovered that the overseas market is expanding and must be cashed on as much as possible. Therefore, Salman’s ‘Tubelight’, along with many other countries, will also release in Germany this time. The previews will happen on 22nd June, following by its release the next day.

“Wonder Woman,” starring Gal Gadot, took in about $100.5 million at North American theaters over the weekend, according to comScore. The turnout — in a surprise, almost equally split between women and men — was one of the best ever for a nonsequel superhero film.

During the past four years, as Warner Bros. has tried to follow Marvel Entertainment in creating an interconnected constellation of critically acclaimed superhero blockbusters, effort after effort involving male characters and male directors has fallen short. Superman? Nope. Batman and Superman in one film? Even worse.

So the pressure on the lasso-wielding “Wonder Woman,” directed by Ms. Jenkins and released on Friday, was astronomical. That $150 million film also came loaded with gender politics — the superhero genre has long been moviedom’s biggest boys’ club, on both sides of the camera — and a misfire could lead to further exclusion: Leave the superheroics to the dudes.

Instead, she nailed it. The box office result was on par with “Iron Man,” the 2008 film that kick-started Marvel’s lineup, and beat the arrivals of Captain America, Thor and Doctor Strange.

@aamirsaurabh –Despite my being an Aamir supporter, I do wish you and others on twitter would go easy with the hyping of TOH. Heightened expectation is never a good thing.

And the continuous talk about Dangal in China — it’s beginning g to get a tad exhausting; plus there is so much scepticism about the numbers, after so many days. Commenters on social media are beginning to question…. and I do hope the numbers can be verified . Of course the nasty comments of some disbelievers– that is not acceptable too.

Lol @ Marcus. Did you read SS Rajamouli’s claims? You are just creating your own story here. There is no history or precedent or disease of Hindi films yet in South India about the FAKE BO collections like Roshan family does. The issue he maintained is that celebrating 100 days in highest number of theaters and producer that theater count by 20% when announcing 100 days celebrating at 223 theaters. That was an event to please the fans and Rajamouli skipped that event as the theater count is not correct. It was still over 175 theaters and biggest Telugu hit of its time. That was all done by old producers of the industry. Even that producer didn’t increase collections of his film just did for the fan event. Also, Bahubali’s producers are Rajamouli’s friends and they belong to new school of thought. Infact Rajamouli made them producers with his previous film (original of Devgn’s Son of Sardaar).

Lol, Telugu film industry is the closest to accurate numbers. And no, those are not producer numbers. The Telugu BO numbers are gathered from individual trackers (area wise) and the rest is just an average of different sources available online.

And please do share the link where SS Rajamouli talks about over-reporting? There are “hyped/fake” producer totals in Telugu cinema too just like any other industry but people who follow movies usually get that those numbers are fake or hyped (mostly for publicity) and don’t take it seriously, unlike other film industries.

That’s a generic article with loose translation, the main issue between Rajamouli and Allu Aravind is the forceful extension of theaters to cross 100 days (as mentioned in your article and in my comment). I even gave exact details about count and there is literally no issue about over reporting of collections and certainly not which says 20% as over-reported. The whole article is also BS as they mention “Due to the lack of proper tracking agency down South, the numbers are often exaggerated”. Lol.

Jayshah: Just go to the original source of article and the interview given by Rajamouli. Bollyarena and others just copy that news and add their own twist to it. There is NO MENTION of fake collection, it was about the Fan even of number of theaters crossing 100 days. I even gave the exact numbers of 223 theaters not given in this article.

And Rajamouli, in a recent interview, has also opened up on why he had skipped the celebrations of the film. He revealed that he got into a confrontation with the producer Allu Aravind as he was claiming that film ran in theatres for 100 days.

He was unhappy with this trend going on in Tollywood and said, “My film Simhadri ran for 100 days in a good number of theatres and we were all very happy. But, the filmmakers did not stop at that. They claimed that it ran for 175 days for publicity. I was irritated by that.”

“I told Aravind that let us not do the same thing with Magadheera. And he also agreed. I wanted to put a full stop to this trend. Magadheera became a big hit of the industry. When I was feeling so happy about the success, they started publicising that it ran 100 days in so many numbers of theatres. I confronted Aravind about it and he said he didn’t want to do it but because of the pressure from the fans, he had no other choice. I could understand his situation but at the same time, I didn’t want to endorse all those wrong calculations,” Rajamouli said on the Open Heart with RK show.

@Jay – Thanks for digging this out. I read some other article on the same topic that claimed Magadheera did not even do 80% of what was reported by producers. This controversial statements from Rajamouli have got a wide coverage over last few days with many many articles all over the net, and I dont have the time to dig out a particular one to satisfy Master’s ego. Most of these articles were questioning the producer totals from down south.

The actor will play the elusive Anand Kumar, who runs the famed ‘Super 30’ program for IIT aspirants in Patna, in Vikas Bahl’s next.

After his home production Kaabil opposite Yami Gautam, which was directed by Sanjay Gupta and released in January, Hrithik Roshan will be seen as the Patna-based mathematician Anand Kumar in Vikas Bahl’s next directorial. Tentatively titled Super 30, the film traces Anand’s rise to fame as the founder of the ‘Super 30’ program that grooms IIT aspirants.

Hrithik, who is soon headed to the United States for a vacation with sons Hrehaan and Hridhaan (Mirror, May 25), is expected to begin prep for the film after the weeklong trip. After his last release, the 43-year-old actor had been reading scripts but took his time before giving the nod to Super 30, which is his first biopic. Bahl, who has recently returned from London after a month, had been reportedly researching for the film since a couple of years.

Anand Kumar, 44, an Indian mathematician from Bihar, started the ‘Super 30’ program in Patna in 2002 to coach economically backward students for IIT-JEE, the entrance examination for the Indian Institutes of Technology. Kumar studied in a Hindi medium government school where he excelled in mathematics. Every year, his institute Ramanujan School of Mathematics conducts a test to select top 30 students to groom for the entrance exam after which he tutors them and provides them accommodation for a year.

Kumar, who came up with the idea for the program after being approached by underprivileged students who wanted to prepare for admission in the premier engineering institutes but couldn’t afford to pay the tuition fee, had so far been reluctant about having a film made on his life.

Actually Ranbir resembles Dutt in his initial days especially with his height and physique, just his facial structure is little different and his personality is different and hoping that he will cover with his performance. Hirani has done lot of tests with the old footage of Dutt as he claimed.

Actually Ranbir suits perfectly for Kishore Kumar biopic but looks like he’ll have to let go of that movie coz of dates.

Hope the movie is of some significance value and not an exercise in mimicking Dutt. There are mimicry artists by the dozen on TV who can pull of a sanjay dutt to perfection…otherwise it will just be a Sanket Bhosale act and some entertaining jive to Khalnayak title track…..

“I doubt that Tubelight will break Baahubali 2’s record, because the latter is one of the most freakish films that has been made. Hindi film-goers lapped up the film despite watching a dubbed version of it. It is because of the Hindi cine-goers that they have got these numbers. But as long as nobody loses money, I am fine. I don’t feel the pressure,” Salman said.

The biographical sports drama raked in 8.11 crores ($ 1.26 million) and now stands with the grand total of 1097.36 crores ($ 170.53 million). Apart from this, the film has grossed 38 crores ($ 5.9 million). It has become the 1st Bollywood film to cross $ 200 million mark at the overseas box office. Dangal raked in 1337.36 crores i.e. around $ 206 million in the international markets. Dangal currently stands with the global collections of 1879.70 crores.

Bollywood’s most distinguished war of creative differences is now over. Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Salman Khan locked in an intense cold war for the last five years—so intense was the animosity that when SLB’s sister Bela Sehgal invited Salman Khan to see her directorial debut he had replied, ‘Anything for you. But not for that so-and-so’—have finally shaken hands, hugged made peace and agreed to work together in another film.

The peace -making process began a year back when Bhansali and Khan met at the latter’s residence for a possible project together. Sources close to them say SLB and Salman have been in touch since then. When recently SLB’s shooting of Padmavati was disrupted in Rajasthan, Salman Khan was one of the first to call and inquire about his one-time best-friend’s wellbeing.

And now Salman Khan and Sanjay Bhansali have agreed to work together in a film that promises to be “the Devdas of the new millennium.” An intense love story with dark undertones, it will be the ultimate olive branch from the director who fell out with the superstar when Bhansali offered Devdas to Shah Rukh Khan.

Salman who propped up Bhansali’s talent from the time of the director’s debut in Khamoshi: The Musical felt betrayed when Devdas went to his fiercest rival.

The new love story which will be shot immediately after Padmavati is completed, will mark the renewal of the one of Bollywood’s most influential director-actor team that gave us Khamoshi The Musical, Hum….Dil De Chuke Sanam. It also signals the culmination of the Ranveer–Deepika collaboration with Bhansali that yielded the trilogy of Goliyon Ki Raas Leela Ram Leela, Bajirao Mastani and the forthcoming Padmavati.

The SLB-Salman Khan collaboration of 2018 will feature a fresh face with the superstar. Deepika Padukone with whom Salman’s pairing remains yet untried is a very strong contender.

Salman Khan on Monday refuted rumours that he is in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s next project, but he is open to the idea of working with the filmmaker again. Asked about if he is doing a film with Bhansali, Salman told media here: “It’s a rumour… Don’t panic. However, after this, if he (SLB) gets any idea, I am open.”

The actor has collaborated with Bhansali in the past in successful films like ‘Khamoshi: The Musical’ and ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’.

So, why do people in the Hindi heartland prefer dubbed South Indian films to Hindi movies from Bollywood? There are only partial explanations, really.

According to Mohammad Parvesh, who runs a shop adjacent to Sudhanshu’s, and has taken a break to browse the Internet on Sudhanshu’s computer, “the action is better”. “People like the style of these movies,” he said. “It is very different from Bollywood.”

Others see their desires and aspirations reflected in these films. As Parvesh spoke, a Class 11 student preparing for the IIT-JEE entrance examination at a coaching centre nearby, walked in. His parents live in the city but he stays in a small rented room near the coaching centre. The centre has helped him get admission to a school in the vicinity. “I do not go there at all,” he said, referring to the school. “I will go only for the exam. But my attendance is being marked.” Apart from attending coaching classes, he studies for about six hours every day. But there are no classes currently, so he spends his time watching movies. He prefers South Indian films, of course.

“I like these stories,” he said. “There is one with junior NTR, where the son wants to fulfil his father’s dreams,” he added, referring to the popular Telugu actor NT Rama Rao Jr.

Nice and very relevant piece and I agree with the article. These days apart from the crazy eccentricity of southern cinema, not much is moving the needle. Hindi cinema apart from the super trio & Akki to an extent is at a complete standstill and cinegoers of the Hindi belt are simply not interested & all that shows in box-office collections week after week with ‘insignificant’ openings and paltry lifetime totals. For 95 % of bollywood even a 100cr remains a pipe dream.

What is doing great as Saket pointed out in his longish comment is the digital medium and Television to an extent and even there the only thing of interest these days are the episodes of ‘Savdhaan India’ & ‘Crime Patrol’ which are based on true events and recent police files. Just the mental agility / creativity of the crime committed makes one sit back and ponder…..and most of these cases are originating in northern India in middle class families. So bollywood should take note. Yes a fictional show like Naagin is ruling but then that too is outlandishly done and stands out somewhat on the lines of a Bahubali on big screen.

Hindi Medium has emerged a true sleeper HIT as it will soon hit 50 crore nett but has never led the box office in any week since its release and is unlikely to do so in any of the weeks coming where it remains in the theaters.

It is very rare for a film to emerge a hit when the first week and second week collections are behind not one but two other films in todays day and age of limited box office runs. The film has shown a similar pattern in the first three weeks as below.

Week One – Had third highest collections of the week behind Half Girlfriend and Bahubali 2 – The Conclusion

Week Two – Again third highest after Sachin – A Billion Dreams and Pirates Of The Carribean – Salazars Revenge. Beat both films (Half Girlfriend and Bahubali 2 – The Conclusion) who were ahead in week one.

Week Three – Second highest after Wonder Woman. Beat both films (Sachin – A Billion Dreams and Pirates Of The Carribean – Salazars Revenge) who were ahead in week two.

Week Four – Same pattern as likes of Raabta and Mummy will be ahead. But it may go ahead of Wonder Woman which was better in week three.

The film is a rare sleeper hit which has succeeded despite never leading the box office race.

This is indeed a stunning success. 2017 has been great year so far. All eyes on Tubelight which is expected to take a Huge opening, sustain and cross Dangal.
If it doesnt do, it will be a disappointment.
Baahubali is out of reach for a decade atleast.

Tell me who is expecting Tubelight to cross Dangal? If the movie comes anywhere near 300 cr it should be huge relief and great success for all the folks involved with the movie. Anything less than 225-250 crore on solo Eid will be disappointment and shows negative feedback.

Well coming from the team of Bajrangi Bhaijaan which comfortable crossed 300Cr and is 3rd highest nett grosses, why can I not expect?

Will i not expect a bigger hit from Aamir-Tiwary or Rajamouli-Prabhas combo?

Salman has tried to underplay the expectations but an Eid release from a Blockbuster team deserves a HUGE expectation. Atleast the movie has been sold at a bigger price than Bajrangi…so distributors are definitely expecting.

Looks like SRK and Akshay fans are getting active already for SRK film vs Toilet showdown. Are the respective trailers about to release? 🙂

Aamir fans had a few field days to see Dangal outlasting BB2’s run and coming out a clear winner over it. Dangal has slowed down considerably now. Chinese industry trackers are expecting it to fold up at 185 M$, but it can perhaps go a bit higher.

Anyways, it is now time for the build-up for SRK-Toilet clash. Hopefully they both wont end up with distributor losses like Raees-Kaabil did.

This is huge. Thinking of a solo Irfan khan starrer to cross 55crrs and clean hit is a big achievement. Unfortunately inspite of the success, the movie seems to have got lost somewhere between the hype of Dangal and Baahubali2

“I have always believed in stories. Film making is all about stories. When a story connects with me then I want to be a part of it. I have never planned projects. I am not able to do that. I don’t know how to do that or pre planned projects or look at a market and make a project for that market. I don’t know how to do that. As a creative person I have always followed my heart. Whatever story connects with me, I am interested in doing that. I believe if a story is good, it comes out well then it connects with the audience. It creates its own audience.”

Lol. Luckily the movie will have Tax free status by the time of its release and its easy success. No need to do such silly antics, I thought the female didn’t wear any shorts until sometime in the video trying to portray the theme of the movie.

Manmohan Singh biopic starring Anupam Kher will lay bare the workings of the PMO
The film is based on Sanjaya Baru’s ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’, according to an ‘Economic Times’ report.

Veteran actor Anupam Kher will play Manmohan Singh in an upcoming Bollywood adaptation of Sanjaya Baru’s The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh. According to an Economic Times report, the movie’s release is timed for December 2018, a few months ahead of the Lok Sabha election in 2019. Directed by first-time filmmaker Vijay Ratnakar Gutte, the as-yet untitled production has been written by Hansal Mehta (Shahid, Aligarh) and produced by Sunil Bohra.

Bohra told ET, “The research on the movie is already over. Auditioning (for the remaining cast) is in its final lap. The movie will hit the screens next year.” The movie will focus on the workings of the Prime Minister’s Office, and there is no word yet on who will play Sonia Gandhi.

The movie is an official adaptation of Baru’s 2014 memoir. The rights were purchased from the publisher, Penguin Random House India, in 2015, Bohra told Scroll.in.

Baru worked at the PMO between 2004 and 2008. He claimed in his memoir that Singh’s functioning was repeatedly hampered by Indian National Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi’s interference. The book was predictably dismissed by the Congress party, but it helped reinforce the perception that Singh was a “silent” prime minister who wasn’t allowed to fully grow into his role during his two term

Satyam – I think we will need an active live thread for TOH till release. We’ll probably know more about the film than anyone connected to the film. And by that time a lot of people will have lost interest. The wheels are being set in motion for Bollywood’s biggest blockbuster in a long time with articles, tweets and pictures everywhere. I caution fans do not destroy the mystery of the film with so many freaking posts, everything need not be posted. We are fully aware of Bachchan/Aamir collision is going to cause a lot of damage – just don’t jinx it into Titanic. ‘Even god cannot sink this ship’. Box office god is in the film (that’s Big B), script ayega (that’s Aamir). We don’t need more than this. This is all that needs to be said.

Content can never be termed a fad. Content is always king, be it a book or a film. And Aamir’s films have always attracted me because of content. I loveTalaash for its content,despite the fact that it netted only rs 97 crores.

But as I indicated in a comment yesterday — there is real danger of info overload with regard to Dangal, TOH….any film that has done extraordinaire well or is expected to. And heightened expectations is never a good thing. The reason for all this information overload is of course the beast of social media. One can personally chose to stay away mostly,but many users seem to get addicted….the trick is to involve oneself in real activity beyond the internet.

A twitter handle called spotboye ( a gossip site,I think) has wondered whether all the information overexposure could turn TOH into a Ra one disaster. I seriously hope not.

I think the makers need either to be supremely confident about a good product or bank entirely on the initial, if they choose to use ‘hype’ to market their product. For YRF I would say the latter is the true. The investment is big here, and perhaps they want to play it safe. A better approach would definitely be to keep everything under wraps during the making and then go for a product based extensive marketing during pre-release.

However, BB2 went for the hype route. Since Rajamouli also ensured content (respective to its genre), the trick worked for it. But using same tactics for a Victor film may backfire. He is simply not in the same league as far as directional capabilities are concerned. If TOH turns out to be a good film, the credit will should go to Aamir’s ‘supervision’ (coming at a price of 70% profit sharing), but it is doubtful at this moment.

I dont think this will be another Ra One in the worst case scenario. Ra One was simply a bad movie and thus crashed after a long weekend. Even if TOH does not live up to its expectations, it should still get a Dhoom 3 kind of trending and get to a respectable total (like all Salman movies). We may get a Mangal Pandey kind of under-performance.

As for Dangal, its China run is Once in a Lifetime phenomenon. This is not going to be repeated. Period. I will be v surprised if any of Aamir’s future films achieve more than 25% of what Dangal has done. I think fans should be given the leeway to celebrate this rare moment, but yes it can lead to weird expectations if they all future Aamir films are expected to repeat this! There is talks in social media about TOH doing the same – unfortunately that v unlikely to happen.

Dangal in China has crossed 1100 cr and WW gross is inching towards 1900 cr! This is just unbelievable and just cant be replicated.

Just In: Saif Ali Khan’s First Look & Release Date Of Chef
It’s the Indian adaptation of Jon Favreau’s high-profile Hollywood hit, Chef, with the same name.
By
Koimoi.com Team –
June 6, 2017

Saif Ali Khan is back on the silver screen with Chef after Rangoon opposite Shahid Kapoor and Kangana Ranaut. The makers of the film have just dropped the first look of the film, announcing the release date as well.

The film will hit theaters on 6th October 2017. It’s the Indian adaptation of Jon Favreau’s high-profile Hollywood hit, Chef, with the same name, will now release. The film, produced by Bhushan Kumar’s T-Series and Abundantia Entertainment, led by Vikram Malhotra. It is helmed by Airlift director, Raja Krishna Menon. The film also stars South actor, Padmapriya and child actor, Svar Kamble.

Chef, is a 2014 breakthrough hit film that was written, produced and directed by Jon Favreau (also the director of the global blockbuster Jungle Book). The original Chef had a famous supporting cast with the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Sofía Vergara, John Leguizamo, Scarlett Johansson and Dustin Hoffman amongst others and is the story of professional Chef, Carl Casper, (played by Favreau himself). Carl, quits his job at a popular Los Angeles restaurant after refusing to compromise his creative integrity to its controlling owner.

Absolutely true write up and there are vivid memories of a lattu spinning on Rati Agnihotri’s navel in Ek Duje Ke Liye and numerous Oranges falling on Meenakshi Sheshadri belly button.

++

Why Is The South Indian Film Industry So Obsessed With A Woman’s Navel? We Tried Finding Answers – Jun 06, 2017 at 17:40

“…..The navel finds its way into the most obscure of scenes. From a love scene (chalo valid hai) to an emotional one, it’s everywhere. So much so that it makes me wonder why can’t we just leave it alone already! Not only does it look aesthetically horrifying, but a little too desperate as well.

From fruits like apple and angoor being casually dropped on the navel, to actors literally crooning to the belly button, south Indian directors have managed to make the navel a character in itself.

But seriously, what is the reason behind this obsession?

The navel has more sexual connotations in South Indian cinema than any other female body part. You see, it’s one of the highly erogenous areas on a female body and when it comes to movies, visual imagery works best as a method of storytelling in complicated and erotic scenes. Therefore, showing the belly button becomes an evocation of the sexual act, lust and love..”

While Western critics admire The Barefoot Contessa or The Bad and the Beautiful, they seldom mention Paper Flowers. Likewise when they discuss lighting in cinema they fail to acknowledge the visual brilliance of Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. The Welles in Dutt deserves far more recognition.

But it is the John Garfield in him that is to be particularly admired. Dutt was a determined, troubled movie star in the complex Indian manner. He created his own screen persona and those of others. He was instinctively downbeat in a film world otherwise inclined, and his characters were variously autobiographical. Dutt was one of the great, brooding figures in post-Independence Indian cinema.

I can’t stop laughing when I read only 389 crore nett. Ya right ..only?? Just because someone got a little crazy and spent a fortune to earn as much fortune according to him poor Dangal just made 389 crore nett in India. Hahaha.. People can be awesome.

By the way on serious note I think Dangal lost at least 50-75 cr nett in India due to negative media/sentiments against Aamir and demonetization. Though back then it looked it din’t hurt the movie but now I feel it did.

The actor was not only ready to play another real life character, but was also willing to present the movie under the Aamir Khan Productions Pvt Limited. But as per our sources the whole project has undergone a major transformation. No, we don’t mean that Aamir has ditched the film. In fact, Aamir wants to have a major say in this project and our source revealed, “Aamir is not just acting in this film, he is also going to produce the movie under his banner (AKP). While Ronnie Screwala’s company RSVP was to originally produce the film, now they will just be presenting the movie.” Our source also added, “He (Aamir) has big plans in his mind for the movie and is taking keen interest in every aspect of this film including the casting.” Obviously with AK backing it he will be the one calling the shots.

Thanks Naveen. Aamir’s probably on the blog reading all your comments. And only picked up this singular one about producing more instead of the other negativity. He must have a ‘keen’ eye for such remarkable advice.

This film if done correctly, BB2 style has the potential visual lure that BB2 had obviously on different grounds. I don’t expect Gravity level technology, but if it reaches parity of how BB2 can legitimately be compared to LOTR as an overall experience (minus technology / budget) it’s a solid option. Looks like we are going outer planet!

the rate at which biopics are being done now left and right – we will soon run out the characters there 🙂 Saina’s biopic, Manmohan biopic, Shraddha is doing a gangster biopic, Akki is doing a hockey-player’s biopic, Ranbir is doing Sanju’s biopic…….

Yes, this can be a grand and visually spectacular movie-going experience (apart from a solid story which should not be too difficult given the premise). Not much has been done in this ‘space’ in Indian films either.

This is obviously going to be a big budget film (which AKP can afford after Dangal success). And its better for Aamir to call all shots here as the producer. They are supposedly bringing in an ad-filmmaker with limited experience, so this will need Aamir’s full focus if its going to be made.

I know all of you have Gravity in mind and getting gung ho thinking about it. But Rakesh Sharma story will be very different. More than the space odyssey i am more looking at a story of how one can become astronaut…a role that every kid aspires to become.
– @AamirKhan i can give you more such ideas. Please ping me secretly and avoid reading the orgasmic fests.

No one is expecting a Gravity/Martian here. Gravity is sci-fi genre, this is based on real life. The first half will probably be on aspirations of being astronaut and the training for it. Second half will perhaps be about the space journey. It will still be inspirational drama genre and not a science fiction ala Gravity or Interstellar.

Idea- Hold on. Let him complete TOH and start Rakesh Sharma. After than you never know if he can only do biopic of Dadabhai Nairoji

Jayshah – Aamir listens to me more as all of you are diehard chauvinists (chaaploos) and doesn’t provide him with new ideas and knowledge. I have been asking you and your coterie to change your thinking but looks like bhakts and bhaktinis are hell bent to irritate him.

“Aamir Khan had started prepping for this role much in advance. BollywoodLife was the first to confirm this news of Khan giving his nod to this Mahesh Mathai directorial venture that was in the making for almost eight years.”

btw – talking about paycheck – what must be going through Adi Chopra’s mind now – what kind of paychecks he must be giving to Aamir and Bachchan – surely Bachchan can not be more than 10-15 cr – but Aamir? esp. after this China market opening???

Last week when I said Aamir will earn around 12.5% and remove publicity budget and it will be around 10% which is 100 crores for the business in China, no one believed me easily. Looks like Forbes has confirmed the same. Do I need to anything else? 🙂

Why the Telugu film industry is keeping a wary eye on Trump’s H-1B visa policies
The US has emerged as the biggest market for Telugu films after India, and the tightening of immigration rules could stall the momentum.

The largest overseas market for Telugu cinema is now Donald Trump country – and like so much else with the American President, that’s a problem.

Trump’s April order placing greater restrictions on the process of obtaining H-1B visas has the potential to rattle the business of Telugu films in the US. A great many of the 350,000 Indian information technology workers in the US are from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. That is in addition to the high numbers of Telugu students who study in the US. In 2014-’15, the US consulate in Hyderabad issued 27,000 student visas, the highest number of student visas in the world. America is home to an estimated 250,000 Telugu speakers from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The US is the biggest market for Telugu films after India, contributing 5%-10% of the box office.

“The cinema industry will not be affected employment-wise but it could affect the sentiment if there are massive lay-offs in the IT industry in America,” said Shobu Yarlagadda, the producer of the Baahubali films. “I don’t think it will hamper our fortunes, but the policy could slow down the rate of growth of the market.”

A big budget Telugu movie is distributed on between 300 and 400 screens in the US, the same number as a Hindi release, according to the FICCI-Frames report. SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali: The Beginning (2014) earned $8 million in North America and Canada, while the 2017 sequel raked in $20 million, Yarlagadda told Scroll.in. The first film was screened on 250-300 screens, while the sequel got a whopping 1,000 screens.

The American market for Telugu films sometimes outstrips the local box office and is sizable enough to encourage filmmakers to improve their production standards to meet the benchmarks set by Hollywood. Tagore Madhu, the producer of AR Murugadoss’s upcoming Spyder, is visiting studios in London and Russia to ensure the visual effects in the Mahesh Babu-starrer go down well with what he calls the “International Telugu” audience.

Didn’t want to ruin their future, Salman on tracking down Twitter trolls

Salman’s take on social media is somewhat stringent. “I have stopped reading Twitter. I wanted to discontinue it, but my PR team advised against it. If they were my fans, they would have an identity. Are they so ashamed of who they are that they hide behind a nameless face? We did track a few of them down, but did not reveal their identity as we didn’t want to ruin their future.”

Salman has now started talking like No 1 Star.
Forgiving, Sharing, Caring and non confrontational.
He just needs Tubelight to cross 250 Cr and he will be back to No 1 position Aamir took over from him by delivering ATBB (No sure if such tagss would be revised now after BB2 showed what ATBB means. 😀

What is quite funny here is the coming together of Hansal Mehta, Ashoke Pandit, and Anupam Kher!! Hansal is a vehement anti-Modi guy, one of the great signatories of the letter to Bush regarding Modi’s visa to US; Kher and Pandit are pro Modi..

Quite an interesting film to look forward to from an intolerant India!

Baahubali 2 & Dangal Box Office: Which Film Stands Where & What Lies Ahead?
While Dangal currently remains to be the highest grossing film worldwide, if Baahubali 2 releases in China, there are chances that it may get ahead.
By
Koimoi.com Team –
June 7, 2017

If you’re a box office junkie, you have definitely been following every update, regarding the collections of two massive films of recent times, Baahubali 2 and Dangal. While S S Rajamouli’s Baahubali 2 released in April, it managed to keep audiences hooked all through May and is still making business. Dangal, on the other hand, was Aamir Khan’s 2016 December release, which after making itself the highest grosser in Bollywood, recently released in China and has taken the overseas box office by storm.

Baahubali 2 starring Prabhas, Anushka Shetty, Rana Daggubati in lead roles revolved around the story of two warring brothers who compete with each other for a throne in the Mahishmati kingdom.
Baahubali 2 & Dangal Box Office: Who Stands Where & What Lies Ahead
Baahubali 2 & Dangal Box Office: Who Stands Where & What Lies Ahead

After setting some serious milestones at the box office, Baahubali 2 currently stands with a collection of 1665 Crores at the worldwide box office. It can be seen that the film’s collections have slowed down and while it may touch 1700 crores, it looks like there will be still time.

Baahubali 2 collections so far

India (All Languages): 1050.45 crore nett (1355 crore gross)

Overseas: 310 crores

Worldwide: 1665 crores

Dangal, on the other hand, has been on a roll in China as well as Taiwan. The film’s worldwide total is all set to hit 1900 crore mark which is huge. It is already the first Indian film in China to make it to the 1100 crore mark.
Dangal collections so far

Chinese Box Office: 1106.25 crores

Taiwan Box Office: 38.50 crores

Total Overseas: 1346.75 crores

India Box Office: 387.39 crores nett (542.34 crores gross)

Worldwide: 1889.09 crores

While many are pitting Dangal against Baahubali, one has to agree that this comparison is unfair on many levels. Also, while Dangal currently remains to be the highest grossing film worldwide, if Baahubali 2 releases in China, there are chances that it may get ahead.

Nonetheless, both films have made their standing strong at the overseas and worldwide box office. It is not every day that you see such big numbers coming in for Indian films.

“Dangal – A Film To Be Proud Of” – Top Chinese Leader Liu Yunshan
By
Koimoi.com Team –
June 7, 2017

Aamir Khan’s blockbuster Dangal, which has earned over Rs 1,000 crore in China, has been described by a senior Chinese leader as a “great film” and an example of “cooperation among BRICS nations”.

In a meeting with a group of editors and journalists in Beijing for the BRICS Media Forum, Liu Yunshan, a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee, said “Dangal” was one of the most “successful and influential” films shown in China in recent years. (Also read: Dangal’s Overseas Total Reaches 1347 Cr Mark)

“India and its media should be proud of what the film has achieved… It is a great example of cooperation among BRICS countries,” said Liu, adding that “we media people should give greater coverage to this film”.

“Dangal“, which released here as “Let’s Wrestle, Dad”, is about a determined father in a patriarchal society, training his daughters to become world class wrestlers.

Aamir is one of the most popular Indian actors in China and the media there has been writing about the phenomenal success of the movie as it has struck a chord with the Chinese, also a male-dominated society.

Well I am no fan of Baahubali barring a few feathery naval gazing song sequences, though part 2 turned out to be a bit of a Klpd & had Shetty all over who is basically a T&A beauty, but must admit this article reeks of the typical crab mentality engulfing the Indians. Someone quoted Quora on the blog today so here you have it –

This is what the makers of Raabta had to say to the court when being compared to Magadheera

We all know that the Sushant Singh Rajput–Kriti Sanon starrer Raabta is all set to release this week. Yesterday and today, the makers of Raabta argued for over 5 hours in the court, citing several differences in their script, storyline and Magadheera. Advocate General of Telangana, Ramakrishna Reddy appeared for the producers of Raabta. The lawyer argued that the background of the lead characters, the storyline development, the role of villain, the foreign locations and most importantly, the finale of the film is completely and materially different from that of Magadheera.

They pointed out that the concerns of the makers of Magadheera that the iconic 100 warriors’ scene, which had been lifted in Raabta, is completely unfounded as there was no such scene either in their film or the trailer. They said that, in their film, unlike Magadheera, the villainous character was, in fact, an anti-hero and a parallel interest point for the heroine. Even in the back story depicting the past life of the characters, the hero of the film actually plays a negative character in most parts.

The makers further pointed out the similarities, even if there were any, were purely on the themes which are generic to every film made on reincarnation of two lovers such as Prem, Hamesha, Om Shanti Om, Kudrat etc. In fact, the makers also cited a list of more than 100 films which were based on the theme of reincarnation.

When contacted, Ankit Relan, lawyer for T-Series, confirmed that the injunction application had today been reserved for orders. He said “We have filed the entire script of our film along with a comparative chart showing how the two films are completely different in the their story, treatment and expression, something that the Plaintiff ought to have done in the first place as part of his pleadings to show comparative similarities. Neither were any such similarities pointed nor has the Plaintiff filed its script for the judge to make a comparison. The entire suit, which has been filed at the eleventh hour, despite the trailer coming out more than six weeks ago, is based on conjectures. We can’t understand how a film of over 2.30 hours in duration, can reasonably be compared with a trailer of around 2 minutes to jump to a conclusion of Copyright Infringement. We even offered to show the entire film to the Plaintiff as far back as on 17th of last month itself, to which, the counsels for Plaintiff responded only on the midnight of 30th May, 2017, which was one night before the next hearing, stating that the reply was left lying with the watchman of their building all this while. They rejected the offer to see the film, of course”.

It has now been learnt that both the sides have requested the court to pass the order in the first half tomorrow, so as to have time to approach the Appellate Court, if needed. However, the court refused to be bound by any such timelines.

On Wednesday morning, the world woke up to the announcement that Anupam Kher will play former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a film adaptation of Sanjay Baru’s book The Accidental Prime Minister.

Even the censor chief Pahlaj Nihalani saw the announcement and was very happy for Kher. Says Nihalani appreciatively, “He’s such a versatile actor. At the age of 28 he had played an old man so brilliantly in Saaraansh. I am sure he will do full justice to Manmohan Singhji’s character, though it would have to be more expressions than words. As we all know, Manmohan Singhji hardly speaks. I am sure the dialogue writer would not have much to contribute to the character.”

However Nihalani warns that the film’s makers would have to abide by the rudimentary guideline regarding all films based on real-life characters. “The makers of The Accidental Prime Minister –producer Sunil Bohra, etc.–would have to get an NOC (No Objection Certificate) from Manmohan Singhji, Sonia Gandhiji and all the other real-life politicians who are part of the narrative. This rule applies without fail. There are no exceptions. And although my current tenure as the CBFC chairperson ends in January 2018 and this film will come up for censorship after that, I am sure the guidelines regarding bio-pics would remain unchanged.”

We wonder if the film’s team is aware of this. Replies Nihalani, “I am sure they are. Anupam Kher was himself the CBFC chairperson not too long so. Ashoke Pandit who considers himself a part of the CBFC, is also a part of the film on Manmohan Singhji. And Hansal Mehta who is writing the film claims to be victim of the censorship guidelines every time his film is on release. I can’t imagine how these people cannot be aware of the ‘NOC’ required for censor clearance of films based on real-life figures.”

Aamirsaurabh as per the Kabir-Komal video I posted, Ms Zhu Zhu seems to be playing an Indian. The leaving out the backdrop of a Indo-China war is not a cross border tale a previously speculated. The reason I could relate to his chat with Komal is because I have spent my childhood years in Calcutta Chinese were residing and spoke fluent Hindi till late 80s ( have no idea if this is still the case). Most of them were dealing in leather business and mostly shoe / belts / bags merchants.

Having said that this is a project seemingly done in a rush and one of the few places Salman not in his elements….add Sohail to the mix and there is a likelihood of ‘bhaihood’ facade on screen. But I had the same dreary & drab concerns with a Bajrangi Bhaijaan ‘prior’ heading to the theatre but then Kabir gave it the right texture and zoning and took a more tried and tested Rajkumari Hirani formula of a story that’s part humor, part farce, but keeps you engaged, and nudges you to think.

Going by that komal nahata video link if not anywhere else, Tubelight should work on this blog as Kabir admits there to be coming from Mani Ratnam School of film making and considers him his idol. Now to cinemagoers like me it is somewhat of a red herring as I have never understood or liked Mani Ratnam save a dubbed Nayakan (exceptional)…. his hindi transformation in Dil Se etc even during srk’s peak could not muster a decent response.

Producer of Magadheera Allu Arvind finally saw Raabta and has decided to withdraw his injunction request. Two weeks ago the makers of Magadheera had taken the makers of Raabta to court seeking an injunction on the release of the film on 9 June.

But, after watching the film, Allu Arvind has decided to withdraw his copyright-infringement allegations against Raabta. The movie starring Kriti Sanon and Sushant Singh Rajput will hit theatres on 9th June 2017 i.e. tomorrow.

Honestly besides the jokes and all, the childish posts about Dangal has overtaken the blog completely and it looks like twitter and any silly bollywood fan forum. To think of it, there is hardly any negativity about Dangal anywhere in the media or on the forum. In so many years, so what’s the purpose when there is no opposition?

Satyam has never allowed such childish posters who are doing no discussion besides copy-pasting whole of twitter on here and looks like he himself has given up by his limited participation on the blog till this phase completes. (It doesn’t look like with already TOH twitter posts showing up and it will continue till next year).

Always the discussion on here were at mature level to an extent doesn’t matter positive or negative of any fan but the quality over last months have down drastically and even odd sane comments are hidden in the crowd of childish posts.

It has nothing to do with Aamir Khan or Dangal , I would have been pissed the same if it was some dumb SRK fan doing the same. It serves no purpose to take time to come to this blog and searching for some interesting comments out of all the crappy ones. Some standard of the forum has to be maintained.

Posts which don’t suit u are childish.why don’t u keep ur views to urself.There shouldn’t be any posts (even which sanjana posts) as per ur silly logic.Biased members like u love only when world suits u.

Agree – aamirsaurabh your posts in general can be consolidated in one paragraph. Twitter is it’s own site. This Aamirian stuff is nauseating, it is not the spirit of the blog.

Just give one China update instead of a deluge of similar ones. The Twitter stuff is not even news like Bhansali / Salman film. It is either you promoting yourself or trying to prove things that don’t matter. Tubelight will release or not – the numbers will come, crow then.

If it was legitimate news I can understand but you’re posting Twitter replies of questions you are asking. It’s kind of kindergarten stuff. You can limit it.

I hear Satyam is counting collections of Sarkar 3 so will be back pretty soon! 😀😀😀

Actor-politician Paresh Rawal’s recent statement that said he would love to work in Pakistani serials and movies was strongly condemned by many. However, Rawal has now denied making any such statement and has claimed that he was misquoted.

“I never said I want to work in Pakistani films, neither it is my wish. I want to categorically state this. I have been misquoted. I just said that I liked Pakistan’s TV serial ‘Humsafar’, but never said ours are boring. I only said ours are a little slow,” said Paresh Rawal on Thursday.

Earlier on Wednesday, the actor was quoted saying, “Yes, I would love to work in Pakistani films and shows. I love all Pakistani TV serials like ‘Humsafar’, the way they act, the story, the writing, the language…it’s all good. I feel our shows are boring.” The actor had also condemned the ban on Pakistani actors in the wake of the Uri attack back when it was imposed saying, “I believe that artistes and cricketers don’t come and throw bombs. They are not terrorists; rather they bridge the gap between the two countries. But when the mood is not good, why rake up issues at that time? It is better to stay with your country.” While many actors have refused to talk about this ban, Paresh Rawal maintains that he is not okay with the Government’s decision.

Dangal has collected $1.17 million (7.53 cr INR) on 5th Wednesday in China. The total collection of the film is now $172.98 million.

Dangal has turned out to be a huge success in China as it has been praised by many local actors, producers, directors and even politicians. It will be very hard to match the success of Dangal for any Indian film in future.

The worldwide gross of the film is inching closer to 1900 crore. The recent releases Bahubali 2 has also grossed around 1590 crore so far and is yet to be released in non-traditional markets. However, it is unlikely that BB 2 can top Dangal again as the gap has become too wide.

The Bajrangi Bhaijaan team of superstar Salman Khan and filmmaker Kabir Khan are all set to return this year with the film Tubelight. Set during the 60s, the film also marks the Bollywood debut Chinese actress Zhu Zhu. However, considering the challenges she will face since she is doing a film in a completely foreign language, guess who helped her overcome these hindrances? It was none other than her co-star Salman Khan.

In fact, Zhu Zhu had undergone special Hindi class to learn her dialogues in Hindi. She also was apparently working hard at her diction but since she only had very few days to learn, at times she would take longer to get the language right. Also considering that director Kabir Khan is known to be a perfectionist, the actress couldn’t shoot until she was well versed with her lines.

However, Salman Khan turned to Zhu Zhu’s rescue as he would go over her lines before she gives her take, explaining the meaning of her lines. He even came up with easy ways to help her remember these lines. Now that is what we call team work which we hope will reflect in the film too.

I saw it coming and blame Kohli and he keeps reiterating that even 300 or even 320 is great total and bowlers disappointed. He’s not understanding that in batting pitches you need to go out and score huge scores around 350-360. He’s not in sync with the basic flaw that Indian team has the lowest average in first 10 overs in all the 8 teams and even less than Bangladesh at 44.46 average. They hardly score 50 in 10 overs and then rush towards the end and just go over 300. In this age of IPL and quick scoring, being content with just over 6 runrate is foolish. Even today’s after match ceremony Matthews said 320 was nothing on this pitch whereas Kohli said we thought we had enough score on the board. Need to open his eyes!!

Next matches in the group is almost like knockout. These openers are alright but missing the firepower like Sehwag and mostly seem to play to secure their position in team. Also Dhoni and Yuvi not the same players once they were and this adds to the woes to march towards huge total. On batting pitches just pushing towards around 300 won’t be enough now a days.

Satyam: I posted a very generic comment for the good of the blog, didn’t name anyone. If others thinks its about them and calling out names, I can’t really help.

Besides that, you should consider my request and reduce this influx of silly comments from immature members and maintain the decorum of this blog. (I hope you remember this is not the 1st time I point out to such stuff over the years).

I understand what you’re saying but it’s hard to police these things too much. At different points people have posted countless links about their favorite stars. I think consolidation solves most of the problem.

In the past livewire has posted an enormous amount of stuff on Salman. On Dangal I think the China thing made it a somewhat exceptional case. I do agree that the forum shouldn’t be drowned out with this kind of stuff. In any case as I’ve told Aamirsaurabh he needs to consolidate stuff. Will watch this more closely going forward. Incidentally I doubt those other fanatics could say as much about the numbers of their favorite stars! I don’t know how many fans wouldn’t turn into ‘fanatics’ with the China kind of number or some of the other numbers Aamir has been putting up. I’ve seen lots of fanaticism on far less over the years. Just saying…

“Incidentally I doubt those other fanatics could say as much about the numbers of their favorite stars! ”

Now this you are talking naively for this situation. No one’s worried about numbers only. Why does it have to be numbers at all to fill up a space? There are countless fan forums dedicated with thousands of numbers and they still are more busy than this blog, so why do you think a few of them will have nothing more to say to fill up a blog? Numbers are later stage but from shooting pics (like the one already started with TOH) and schedule updates and live pictures etc, there is ton of information which fanatics thrive upon and seen very regularly on twitter.

All I’m saying anyone can fill up a blog for any reason numbers or not numbers but that kind of defeats the purpose of this blog with respect to fan blogs out there!

Event films like Dangal, BB2, even BB obscure other films released. Cant help it. Raees got around 1000 comments! For one aamirsuarabh, there are many Naveens and Livewires!
Instead of ignoring, why to target aamirsaurabh? I never go through his comments because I am confused with those currencies!

Sanjana, you are going on a rant here without understanding the issue. No one is objecting with the number of comments, one can even post 2000 comments for Dangal, no one will object to it. Still posting inane twitter comments and clogging up the threads is not a welcome thing. Yes, one can ignore but if you read my post I said, it is very tiresome to keep ignoring such large comments to find some good comments. No one’s targeting anyone and this is not the first time. Munna and Satyam has brought up this issue multiple times and suggested that particular user to consolidate the comments from last month. You can check that comments.. I just re-iterated it today. Just coz I said, the meaning doesn’t changes suddenly and it becomes targeting.

The long-delayed Jagga Jasoos featuring Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif together for the last time is ‘positively’ releasing on July 14.

And the producers have ensured that the film gets maximum screens for the summer-vacationing kids. Such is the intensity and volume of release planned for Jagga Jasoos that the other major release scheduled for the same Friday, Apoorva Lakhia’s Haseena The Queen Of Bombay, the bio-pic on Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Parkar, has now been shifted to July 28.

This, despite the fact that July 28 already has the Anil Kapoor-Arjun Kapoor-Anees Bazmee comedy Mubarakan, Madhur Bhandarkar’s Indu Sarkar besides the controversial ‘ladies picture’ Lipstick Under My Burkha which has just been announced for July 28.

Says a source close to Lakhia’s film. “We’d rather brave Anees Bazmee’s comedy than Jagga Jasoos. With Jagga Jasoos on July 14, we were not getting proper theatres screens and timings. Now, having shifted by two weeks, we, at least, stand a fair chance.”

Incidentally, there is another reason why Lakhia’s Haseena got shifted forward by two weeks. On June 30, producer-director Suneel Darshan releases his son Shiv Darshan’s launch film Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha.

It was felt that viewers were likely to get confused by two films with ‘Haseena’ in the title being released within weeks.
– See more at: http://www.bollywoodhungama.com

The extremely hot and superlatively sexy Amy Jackson, besides exhibiting her acting prowess on screen, is now all set to encourage everyone to cut out violence by choosing meat-free meals. Dressed merely in a plastic wrap and speared by a metal hook, the hot Amy Jackson recently shot for a new campaign for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India that proclaimed “Hooked on Meat? Go Vegetarian.”

The said ad campaign, which is being released in advance of World Meat Free Day (12 June), has been shot by the top photographer Abhay Singh. Speaking about the ad campaign, Amy Jackson said, “Meat products can cause cancer, heart disease, and obesity. So, for cutting all of that out, it’s just a no-brainer that we are going to be a lot healthier. My skin’s got a lot clearer. I’ve noticed a change in my body. I’ve noticed a change in my metabolism. So I feel a lot healthier, a lot lighter, with a lot more energy also.”

On the films front, Amy Jackson will be soon seen in the most awaited film 2.0 alongwith superstars Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar.
– See more at: http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/

“What this means for the future of Indian films in China is uncertain. One real test will come if and when Uncle Khan (as he is known in China) sees his next film, Secret Superstar, in which he appears in a cameo, release in China later this year. An even bigger and more important test to anticipate is whether an Indian film that doesn’t feature Khan can succeed in the PRC. So far that hasn’t happened.”

That’s my point. If one takes it offense, I can’t help it. You can’t prove my post to be offensive directly! The post does convey its points in isolation very clearly. The post came out from a real life situation but the points are outside the regular discussion and not regards to one user at all. I clearly stated its a post about fanatics and fandom in general.

Sorry Master but you’re being a lawyer here. It’s obvious you are gunning for aamirsaurabh. If you are trying to separate the issue with a general post – there is no spirit of good intentions from the way I see it.

Legally you are right and legally you played a blinder. Morally cut the crap everyone knows who the post was intended for.

Jayshah: You really need to read the post again in isolation. It is a very relevant post for a movie forum. Lets say, why don’t we see Hrithik fans on here? Coz he has been going through rough phase in career and if one calls himself a Hrithik fan, he’ll be laughed by fans of top stars like Aamir or Salman without even starting the discussion. That’s the hard truth!

Aamirsaurabh no one is questioning your achievements outside of the blog. The only thing is you are posting very similar things multiple times and a lot of it irrelevant information. You’re finding tweets to validate your own position and prove points. Also quite frankly it’s hard to read comments without​ spaces in between words and fragmented grammar. A bit of editing would not hurt.

Saurabh if it is you asking the questions then great. You are asking the right questions. At same time (I’ve never used Twitter or know how it works) if people like the answers you are getting can you not leave a link or something just to follow you? Instead of re-iterating every answer. There is a limit.

Completely agree that others have spammed and forget spamming they’ve been more ‘personal’ or ‘spicy’ with words and not been singled out. And that BB2 / Dangal are unique box office results. But the frequency of comments need not be raised.

Why a fan of Aamir Khan have to not only defend and promote Aamir khan, his films, his family, his life (will not go further), but also defend his fans, fan’s stupid posts, fan’s pension schemes etc.?

Why two fans of the same star not disagree on everything other than Aamir Khan? Why they have to behave as part of a gang for whom unity is important to achieve the bigger purpose, even though it means to support immoral acts?

Mr Jayshah – you are excluded here as you have shown extraordinary wisdom this week for which i appreciate you.

Master – Only problem is see here in your campaign for purity is that you hardly ever said the same when not many years ago SRK fans used to bombard us with the $170.23 report of Om Shanti Om from Tunisia.

And if your question was why I like Aamir, then the answer is also no secret. I like the fact that even as an actor/star, he is more interested and involved with the film-making aspects. This is not true for any other star be it SRK/Akki or anyone else in business. It is his efforts to make good films which is inspirational; his eye on the bigger picture and not just in completing projects/roles as most stars do. He has also tried his hand at direction (despite all the controversy in TZP) and showed his worth.

Also, I like him for the v reason that you complain of. He gives his full effort to the film-making to ensure a good product, even if it takes a lot of time. And I am really impressed that he is now working on 3 films simultaneously at this moment, and involved with the filmmaking aspects of all 3 – Secret Superstar in post-production, TOH in production and Saare Jaahan Se Achha in pre-production.

@Naveen – I guess, you are asking why I am commenting ‘for’ aamirsaurabh instead of ‘against’ him? Its really simple.

I have been keenly following Dangal in China. And I find him knowledgeable regarding it, since he is obviously v interested. One can of course get a bit carried away, when a film you are supporting goes on to make 2000 cr at BO (as I said earlier that as a BO junkie I too have been making too many posts on BB2 and Dangal recently than I would normally do).

“Mr Jayshah – you are excluded here as you have shown extraordinary wisdom this week for which i appreciate you.”

Jay you must take this seriously as this is no less than an OSCAR in the field of free expression 😉 please celebrate this golden moment :-))) And you have no idea how big this is coming from a fan of T H E A K K I…….I mean Akshay Kumar u know….

The same day it releases in Mars! We are anyways going to outer space soon with Rakesh Sharma.

5th week in China has roughly been 14 M$. I am hoping for a 10 M$ week 6, if possible. That will keep alive the hope of it touching 200 M$ in China by the end of its run. Forbes is predicting 195 M$, while more conservative estimates are at 180-190 M$.

Even if it does not touch 2000 cr in its second phase, it surely will do so in third phase, when it releases in Japan, S Korea and S American markets later this year. Fortunately (or Unfortunately), Dangal will remain in news for better part of this year.

Master.. don’t get personal or insulting in your responses. Specially when there’s already bad blood between you and another member. I’ve edited all the responses. I will just add this. Don’t sound so sanctimonious in your responses. ‘Fanaticism’ isn’t only about volume. It’s also about defending every decision a star makes or putting every decision of his in the best possible light or spinning every reality about a star in all kinds of ways. I won’t add more to this because I don’t want to extend this pointless discussion. I do otherwise agree on the volume point and I have before this as well.

Aamirsaurabh.. no one is here 24 hrs to monitor every comment. I’ve edited all the relevant comments. Going forward though you should consolidate comments and again even if they’re held up in moderation these will be let through eventually.

closing this thread now because I have another box office thread to start. Let’s end this discussion guys. there’s been enough on it.